


What Happens In Vegas

by storiesbeyondthestars



Series: What Happens In... [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alpha Hunk (Voltron), Alpha Lance (Voltron), Alpha Lotor (Voltron), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Beta Matt Holt, Beta Shiro (Voltron), F/F, F/M, Family Bonding, Fluff, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Sex, Lotor is a bad guy here, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Multi, No Smut, Not Beta Read, Omega Allura (Voltron), Omega Keith (Voltron), Omega Pidge | Katie Holt, Talk of Abortion, again NO smut at all, alpha acxa, author is pro-choice so that pov does get worked in, no slow burns, talk of forced miscarriage, we embrace the inferno like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-05-29 17:21:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 130,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15078035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storiesbeyondthestars/pseuds/storiesbeyondthestars
Summary: What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right? That's what Lance thought when he went on a vacation with his friends. That was before he woke up in a hotel with a man he didn't know and missing memories from the night before. Everything else spiralled from there.





	1. What A Morning

A pained groan escaped Lance’s lips as he slowly regained consciousness, wishing desperately that he hadn’t. His mouth was painfully dry to the point where it was as if he’d gone into the desert and feasted on the dirt there. His head decided to hold its own concert consisting only of the bass drum. His heart was beating quickly enough for him to take notice of it because it never did that. He was normally a very healthy man who just happened to love his deep fried food. God he hoped he wasn’t having a heart attack at 22. That would suck. His stomach was lurching and squeezing with barely controlling nausea, and somewhere in the back of his mind he was telling himself not to puke on the floor, because he didn’t want Hunk to feel obligated to clean that up.

Hunk had done enough for him anyway. He didn’t deserve that. Though, to be fair, what had Lance done to be currently _dying_?

That was a dumb question. Of course he knew what was wrong. He, Lance Charles McClain-Díaz the First, was hungover. Not even just a little hungover. No, it was bad. He couldn’t remember a time when he had felt worse than this; absolutely nothing came to mind. Not even Hunk’s 21st birthday party, and not because they vowed to never speak of it again.

Maybe he really _was_ dying, because the thought of moving made him want to cry, and he couldn’t remember _anything_ from the night before. That wasn’t normal. Yeah, he liked a good party here and there, but he wasn’t the type to get blackout drunk. What would be the point of that? He liked to go to parties to mingle, dance, and have fun. What would be the point of that if he couldn’t remember it?

He’d barely even gone to parties over the past year. Not after what happened with Nyma.

Shrugging that thought aside, the only logical answer was that death was coming for him.

As if to assure himself that he was, in fact, alive, Lance forced his blue eyes open, grimacing a bit at the bright light of his room. He squeezed his eyes shut before opening them again a little more slowly. God, he felt horrible.

He blinked a couple times, the room coming into focus slowly. That was when the confusion hit him, because this definitely wasn’t _his_ room. The hotel room that he had been splitting with Hunk wasn’t a dive or anything, but it was nowhere even _close_ to being this nice.

His heartrate spiked a bit as his hand curled around the plush blanket he was under. Just because this place was nice doesn’t mean he ended up here for good reasons. There were some sketchy rich people out there. Usually they didn’t target Alphas though, because why would they?

He pushed himself up just slightly to look around, trying not to draw attention to himself. The movement made his muscles clench and everything hurt, especially the back of his neck. What had de done last night?

The room was actually very tasteful, and he appreciated the deep red covers of the bed, the crystalline vases with fresh roses, the gold and silver accents everywhere. This place was actually like a dream hotel for him with his soft and romantic vibes. It wasn’t his fault he had once been in a serious relationship and had peaked at hotels and honeymoon suite and—

Lance’s thoughts abruptly came to a stop as he pieced everything together. This was, without a doubt, a _honeymoon_ suite. Why the hell was he here?

He tried to keep calm, but was so alarmed that he couldn’t help but curl into himself a bit. Maybe he had hooked up with some rich Beta and they asked for the nicest room possible and this just happened to be available? Yeah, that made sense. He hadn’t been looking for a hookup when he came to Vegas, but clearly blackout drunk Lance had a very different thought process from normal or mildly drunk Lance.

He took a deep breath through his nose, preparing to use one of the calming techniques that Hunk had shared with him after it was obvious that Lance was not taking his sudden, and honestly quite horrific, breakup with Nyma well.

Except, he didn’t have to. The scent that hit him had him calming down in one sense, but also instantly riled him up in another way. He felt something twist in his stomach in a good way, a sense of wanting to protect, of being smugly proud of something. The urge to hold, cuddle, maybe even _mate_ snuck up on him, which was very confusing, because he couldn’t remember feeling this before. He hadn’t feel _this_ type of instinctual pull towards Nyma even during the best of their relationship so what was going on?

He didn’t move, trying to piece together what he was smelling. It was sweet with almost citrusy and floral notes to it. Lance was picturing honey for some strange reason, even though he was only a mild fan of that. For some reason though, it was suddenly the single best thing that he had ever graced his presence. The room itself had a tint of roses and cleanliness to it, but the honey scent surpassed them all.

He instantly adored that smell and closed his eyes to savour it. He wanted to hold it close, protect it, cherish it, because it was _his_ and—

Oh no.

His eyes shot open again as dread overpowered those instinctual urges, and he very rapidly became aware of the fact that there was something warm and solid not far from him in the bed. They weren’t touching, the bed was a king, and if Lance didn’t have his face mask, he tended to roll around and end up almost on the edge (or on the floor – the light bothered him a lot at night), but they were close.

He slowly rolled over.

His stomach flipped nauseatingly when his eyes landed on the figure curled up under the blankets beside him. He couldn’t see his bedmate’s face, they were turned away from him, but he could tell they had messy, stark black hair that went a bit below their chin and flipped out at the ends. That wasn’t very telling. He could see that they seemed to have broad shoulders as opposed to narrow ones, so he kind of thought that it might be a man, but there was still no way to discount a woman.

He found both women and men beautiful, so his own preferences weren’t telling enough to figure out who he had taken to bed with him. He almost felt like he was about to have yet another bisexual crisis (freshman year had been wild), but he managed to calm himself down.

Lance was able to discern one thing about this person though. They were, without a doubt, an Omega.

Okay. This was bad, but he could deal with this. He had clearly just hooked up with a random, rich Omega the night before, and couldn’t remember a single detail. That was fine. Lance had never actually done the whole one-night stand thing before, and his past couple relationships had been with a Beta and with an Alpha (which helped him decide that other Alphas weren’t really his thing romantically in the long run), and neither of them had exactly ended well.

It was so rare to be able to get into this position with an Omega. They were almost always either taken by another Alpha (or sometimes Beta, but _usually_ Alphas), or accompanied by a close family member or friend to protect them. Running into an Omega in a place like Vegas without family watching over them was even more rare.

 _Holy shit_ , did that mean that some big, tough Alpha was going to come gunning for him? He was so, so screwed.

Lance slowly leaned up a little bit to try and get a look at the Omega’s face. He could make out that they had smooth, pale skin, but their hair was obstructing his view. His stomach flipped horribly again when the Omega shifted just slight, hair luckily moving with him.

Lance’s stomach clenched dangerously at the fact that he could see the side of this Omega’s neck, and not a collar. Where was it? Everyone knew that unmated Omegas wore collars not as a show of possession, but to protect their scent glands from nasty Alphas that might try to take advantage of them. They were _especially_ popular now, because Omegas had been vanishing all over the country to the point where people were taking notice of it and calling it an epidemic.

Oh no. Had he slept with an already mated Omega? He was going to die if that was the case. He’d never heard of that happen willingly before. Humans mated for life, and there was no current way to undo that. The only time he’d ever heard of it before were the nasty, disgusting scenarios when someone (usually an Alpha), forced themselves onto a mated Omega.

Oh god. Please don’t tell him he had done that in his drunken state. That didn’t _seem_ likely to him, he prided himself on his phenomenal self-control. Yeah, he flirted, but he wasn’t going to be one of _those_ Alphas that claimed ‘it’s my natural instincts’ or ‘I can’t help it’ because that was bullshit. Maybe species with less developed brains couldn’t control themselves, but humans could, even if it was difficult at times. Those people were just assholes.

It wasn’t within Lance’s nature to force himself on someone. The thought made him shiver with sickness. The thing is though, he didn’t remember what happened the night before, and he had never blacked out before either, so he couldn’t say for sure what he did or didn’t do.

Seriously, if _that_ was the case, his next stop was to the police station to turn himself in.

The person shifted again, startling Lance out of his thoughts. He held his breath and watched as the Omega moved around arm coming up on top of the blankets. Lance choked a bit. They definitely _appeared_ to be a male Omega, judging from the corded muscles of his arms and chest, though he couldn’t entirely discount someone who went by female pronouns or neither until he spoke to them.

Not that it _particularly_ mattered because he could already tell that they were hot, even without seeing their face.

Black hair shifted slightly, revealing the back of his neck where the primary scent gland in humans was. That was the spot that collars were supposed to protect, that mates bit into to create their bond.

There, marring the smooth, pale skin over Omega’s scent gland, was a red, raw, brand new bonding mark. This wasn’t one that happened a year ago, a month ago, or even a week ago. No, that type of bite was maybe hours old at most.

His hand flew back to his neck, and he grimaced as he felt a very telling sting, fingers brushing over a very telling pattern. His hangover had been so strong this morning that he hadn’t even cared about the pain beyond one cursory note that it hurt.

No wonder his Alpha instincts reacted to the scent in such a possessive way. They hadn’t just slept together, they had _bonded_ with one another.

Lance lurched out of the bed, vaguely away of the other man jerked up as well. That didn’t matter though. What mattered was finding a bathroom before he emptied his stomach on the floor. Somehow, he managed to get into the bathroom, slam the door behind him, and proceeded to bow at his porcelain throne.

The acidic tastes of vomit burned at his throat and even his nose, causing his eyes to water and his body to shake. He had much more mild hangovers in the past, ones where he felt a little sick but never ended up trying to puke his entire digestive system out. The drum in his head pounded harder, and he sure that he was going to die. God, he wasn’t even throwing up actually stuff anymore, just clear liquid.

Though he got the feeling that this didn’t entirely have to do with his hangover though.

Lance hated getting sick like this. Well, he wasn’t sure who would like it (there probably was a weird person out there though that did), but his stomach ached as it contracted and tried to expel nothing out of him. Dry-heaving was horrible; he did not recommend it.

Eventually, he was able to pull himself up and look in the mirror, grimacing at the sight. Holy shit, he looked terrible with his bed head, tired eyes, and pallid skin. Lance flinched a bit as he looked at the bruises and marks littered over his neck, shoulders and chest. He hoped that drunk Lance was pleased with himself, because he definitely had a very good time (a quick turn let him see very telling lines down his back), and now they were in a mess. Drunk Lance was a _dick_.

Lance grimaced at himself. God, he must have made an impression jumping from the bed. Shit, for all he knew, the Omega was just as confused as he was. He really needed to get himself together, and having a shower was probably the best idea. He was a mess. Or he could grab his clothes and run off even though he had no clue where he was.

No, that wouldn’t work. He had marked an Omega that he didn’t know, and the Omega had marked him too. Maybe if aliens landed on Earth they wouldn’t understand how big of a deal that was, but it was huge. He didn’t know the exact science behind it, but he knew it had to do with special chemicals that were added to saliva when in the presence of a pheromones present in all dynamics. These chemicals were transferred during bites or something like that and that led to some form of a bond, and it could only happen once. Lance really wished that he had looked up more about it while in school.

What mattered was the fact that they had left binding marks on one another and that wasn’t going to change. Already, he could feel the urge to go to this stranger, to comfort him from the stress he was no doubt feeling. He knew it’d be wrong to abandon _his_ Omega, who couldn’t be his Omega, but here they were.

His Papá was going to kill him. She had raised him better than this, taught him to be a good Alpha that respected Betas and treated Omegas like people and not objects. She was going to beat him with a shoe when he got home, and he was an adult that didn’t live in his family’s home anymore.

Home. In Florida. He had no idea where this Omega lived. He didn’t even know their name.

Lance knew that he had to go out there to confront the person, but found that he couldn’t move. He smelled and looked horrible, and he was sure that the other man (oh god, his _mate_ ) would notice.

Instead, he fumbled with the taps, not exactly sure how it worked. Finally, he got the water on, turning it up much higher than he normally would. Anyone who cared about their skin knew that scalding hot water wasn’t the way to go, but he didn’t care at the moment. The stinging felt amazing, like he was cleaning away his screw ups.

He hissed when the water hit his scent gland, specifically the bite mark. It stung a lot, but he knew that it would go away after a while, leaving behind a very distinctive scar that would always be a little sensitive.

Now that he knew there were there, some of the other marks ached as well. A part of him kind of hoped that he had marked the Omega just as much, that it hadn’t been a one-sided thing.

The shower did help to clear his head, even if he didn’t have everything to go through his normal routine (though this hotel did have nice soap, shampoo, and conditioner). He wasn’t sure if it was the hangover or everything else that left his stomach twisting like it was, maybe it didn’t really matter.

He wasn’t quite sure how long he had hidden under the steamy water of the shower, but he let his fingers prune a little too much for his liking, and knew that it was time to get out. Hell, for all he knew, the Omega had slipped away while he was occupied.

Thoughts started rushing through Lance’s head as he turned off the water, grimacing when he realized that he didn’t bring in any of his clothes. Instead, he reached for one of the large, fluffy towels that were there and twisted it around his waist, wrapping his hair up in one of the smaller ones.

Lance edged out into the room, looking around curiously. His stomach dropped when he realized that the Omega was gone. That was bad. Really bad. This was a huge fuck-up on his part, but it really wasn’t something that either of them should be running from. Maybe he should have come out instead of having a shower. As Lance internally beat himself up, he slowly realized two things.

The first was that his clothes were gone. His initial, hysterical thought on that the Omega had left and took his only set of clothes as a punishment. The second thing he realized was that there was a white robe left out on the bed.

He blinked, reaching the robe and running his fingers across it. The material was soft, the type of soft that an Omega would preen at and put in a nest. He wondered if _his_ Omega liked this type of fabric?

The robe definitely hadn’t been there earlier, so it had been left here on purpose. With that in mind, Lance bundled himself up, dropping the towel but leaving the one wrapped around his hair.

Very slowly, he approached the door and peaked out, realizing that it didn’t lead to a hallway in a hotel, but rather, more rooms. He was right, it definitely was a honeymoon suite, and now he knew why. That being said, the living room that was in view was beautiful and better than his own shitty little apartment.

He caught onto a thrumming sound, and looked the other way, realizing that there was a washer and dryer there, the dryer whirring lively. What kind of rich nonsense was this?

There was a small clinking sound, and Lance slowly tiptoed so he could look around the corner, his breath catching in his throat.

The Omega was leaning against the counter of what looked like a little breakfast nook, the same robe that Lance was wearing wrapped around him. He had his head in his hands, wet hair hiding his features. Either he dunked his head in the sink, or there was a second bathroom here somewhere (again, what kind of rich nonsense was that).

Lance wasn’t sure if it was the sound he made that drew attention to himself, or perhaps the smell, but the Omega looked up at him, meeting his gaze.

His breath left him. This Omega was without a doubt masculine with thick brows, a strong jaw, and a hint of the taut muscles Lane had seen earlier peaking from the lose robe. He wasn’t extremely tall or short as he straightened up, probably either the same height as Lance or just a smidge shorter, which was honestly the perfect either way in the Alpha’s opinion.

At the same time, he was absolutely beautiful with high cheek bones, clear skin, and dark, thick eyelashes framing grey…no, blue eyes. No, that wasn’t right either. As Lance came a little bit closer, he realized that those eyes were somehow tinted with purple, an almost indigo-grey colour. His dark hair was getting the collar of his robe damp, hanging lose in what looked like a hastily brushed mullet that he somehow made work.

Well, on a superficial, at least this Omega was hot as hell. Though maybe that wasn’t a good thing, because Lance suddenly realized that he wasn’t exactly a first-choice Alpha. He was tall, yes, and he liked to brag that he was lean like a swimmer, but he still was skinny and all legs (Luis teased him about it all the time). He was often told that he plucked and preened himself like he was an Omega, but it never bothered him before now. Just because he like a minimal height difference didn’t mean that this man did too. For all Lance knew, he expected to be with someone super tall and muscular.

There was always the hope that someone he was meeting up with would find him attractive, but this was different. Willingly or not, this was his _mate_ in front of him.

They stared at one another, the Omega pulling the mug in his hands closer to him, porcelain skin starting to turn pink on his cheeks and across his nose. He cleared his throat and said, “Uh, hi?”

“Hi,” Lance choked out, shifting on the spot awkwardly. What to say to your bonded mate the morning after when you couldn’t remember a thing about them, not even their name?

“Sorry for using your coffee,” the Omega blurted out, seemingly just as awkward at him, which was kind of a relief. “I just—my head was killing me so I was in the other bathroom, and you don’t need to know that, but yeah, I couldn’t concentrate without it so I just helped myself. Uh, sorry.”

Wait, what? Lance blinked at him several times before saying, “This isn’t my room. I thought it was yours.”

The Omega blinked back. “No.” He paused. “What the _fuck_ happened last night?” His brows pinched together, obvious confusion spreading across his features.

“You don’t remember anything either?” Lance blurted out. “Because I’ll be honest with you, I have zero memories from last night, and it’s really freaking me out. I _never_ drink enough for that to happen.”

“Me neither,” he agreed. He shifted a bit and grimaced, pressing his hand to his abdomen.

“Hey, are you okay?” Lance asked, eyes flashing with worry, going back to his own bruises and worried that he had done something worse to him.

“Yeah. Stomach pains from throwing up and—well—never mind.” His face flushed brightly as he tugged his robe a little tighter, hiding the bruises left behind by Lance’s teeth, no doubt. “Uh, I also threw both our clothes in the washer and dryer that’s here. They smelled like alcohol and death.”

Lance couldn’t stop himself from snorting slightly, which earned him a slight uptick at the corner of the man’s lips.

“Oh, thanks.” Lance cleared his throat as he watched the Omega shift pressing his lips together in what was probably an attempt to hide another show of pain. What had Lance _done_ to him last night? “Look, I don’t know what happened, but I want to apologize. I don’t—I don’t do this. I don’t know what happened. I would _never_ force myself onto anyone. At least, I didn’t think I would, but if you were blackout drunk how could you have consented to anything? Then again if I was blackout drunk how could I have consented to anything either? How does that work exactly?” He continued to babble, stopping only when the Omega snorted.

“Well, I guess that answers that question,” he muttered, leaning against the counter again. It was only now that Lance realized how tense the other man had been, like a coil that was ready to spring despite his awkwardness. Maybe he could smell the honesty in Lance’s words and it made him relax just slightly.

Holy shit, Lance hadn’t even _thought_ about this from the other man’s point of view. He was freaking out, but this man was an _Omega_. An Omega with painfully limited rights as it was, and if he couldn’t remember what happened, probably thought that Lance just pulled him off the road somewhere and forced himself on it. Yet he hadn’t tried to leave, probably just as aware that running from the situation wouldn’t help.

Lance could walk around freely, but if Keith tried to run, eventually someone would question him and he would be retained, the bite mark on his neck compared to dental records that would just end up with him being dropped back off on Lance’s doorstep like a misbehaving child.

He wet his lips, trying to find a way to properly apologize again, to explain that he meant no harm. Before he could find the words though, the Omega looked at him with those muted indigo eyes and said, “I’m Keith Kogane.”

A name. A name was good. It stopped him from thinking ‘the Omega’ which was actually pretty dehumanizing, now that Lance thought of it, a bit ashamed of himself. He cleared his throat and said, “I’m Lance, Lance McClain,” he replied. “It’s nice to meet you?”

Keith snorted again, leaning farther against the counter. Lance cleared his throat and said, “Hey, so, uh, did you have a shower yet? I don’t know what’s in the other bathroom. Or why there are even two bathrooms to begin with.” Good job, Lance. He clearly had wet hair and said there was another bathroom. God, what if there wouldn’t have been? He mentioned throwing up, and Lance had hogged the bathroom for god knows how long. What kind of Alpha was he?

“The one you were in had a shower?” Keith looked at him with interest, breaking him out of his thoughts. “Cause that one has a massive tub. Showers are much better.”

What the shit? “There’s a _tub_?” Lance squeaked out, edging forward to look in. Holy shit, there was, and it was so big that he almost wanted to cry. It was _beautiful_.

He was also pretty sure it was in the shape of a heart, which, in retrospect, made sense. They were in a honeymoon suite in some random ritzy hotel that belonged to neither of them.

“That’s what you’re focusing on? Not the more important things going on here?” The sarcasm in Keith’s voice was thick and obvious.

Lance shot a look over his shoulder and said, “Ease up the sass, I cope how I want.”

“What if sass is how I cope?”

He opened his mouth but had no real reply to that and shrugged. “I—I just—ugh. Is there any more of that coffee left? I really need to get something into me.” He eyed the mini fridge that was there under the counter. “Anything in that?”

“I thought this was your room, so I didn’t look,” Keith admitted. “Probably just alcohol and stuff, since there’s a menu there.” He pointed over to where there was a little two-seater table. There was a buzz from down the hall.  “That’s probably the clothes.”

“Clothes first,” Lance said quickly. “Figure out everything else after that?”

Keith nodded his head in agreement. Both headed towards the drier, though when they drew close to one another, Lance felt himself tensing slightly. Now that nausea wasn’t completely controlling him, he could really smell Keith. Well, he had been able to before, but he didn’t truly have the mental capacity to appreciate it. He had never felt _this_ strong of a pull towards an Omega before, and realized just _how_ potent and strong bonding marks really were.

He knew he wasn’t the only one thinking something along those lines. Keith too had tensed, glancing up the half an inch difference between them, eyes dilating slightly. They stopped moving, just staring at one another.

Holy shit Keith was pretty. Even more-so up close. Lance got the distinct feeling that Keith would probably take care of himself, but he still felt the urge to protect him and try to give him the world. He didn’t even _know_ him. This shit was _powerful_ stuff.

Keith’s eyes widened slightly and he looked away quickly, clearing his throat and heating for the dryer, his ears turning an interesting shade of red. Lance _really_ wondered what was going on in his mind. What he very first impression of him was.

They each grabbed their warm, dry clothes that no longer smelled like alcohol and whatever the hell else had been on them, heading into different rooms to get changed (Lance motioned for Keith to take the bedroom because he wasn’t a _savage_ ). Somehow, being fully clothed made Lance feel better and more confident about whatever talk they were going to have. Not to mention he _loved_ the feel of just-dried clothes. It was too bad he didn’t have any of his skincare stuff with him, but there seemed to be some kind of brush there so there was that.

A part of Lance was relieved that they could act civilly to one another. He had been worried they’d meet one another and instantly do something stupid like be completely hostile to one another, or create a rivalry or something. He didn’t know what they’d be rivals about, but it was always possible. Everyone always told him that he got super competitive over the smallest things and tended to overreact to stuff. He was doing pretty good so far.

It was also a relief that Keith wasn’t screaming at him about forcing himself on him or anything like that. He was willing to listen, though in retrospect, he had definitely been suspicious earlier. Hopefully they could be completely rational adults and deal with this.

Lance got back into the kitchenette portion of the suite (seriously, what the hell?), and got himself a wonderful, amazing coffee that was so much better than he expected. He meandered out into the living room to look around, trying to see if there were any clues to where they were exactly. Now that he wasn’t directly freaking out over _who_ he was with, _where_ they were was kind of important since apparently this room didn’t belong to _either_ of them. There was usually some kind of paper stationary around with the name of the hotel on them, so he went looking for that.

Then he spotted something on one of the side tables and promptly spit his coffee all over the cream-coloured couch at the exact same moment Keith came out of the other room. The Omega, dressed in a simple, fitted red t-shirt and black jeans that did him _all_ the favours in the world, stopped and stared at him as if he was the single strangest thing he had ever seen.

“I hope we’re not going to have to pay for that,” Keith said, shoulders slumping slightly in clear distress. That certainly proved to Lance that he probably hadn’t grown up with money enough for this place, further perplexing how they were there at all.

He was momentarily distracted by the couch, really hoping that they wouldn’t have to pay to replace it. Surely places like this dealt with worse things on future, right? They were in a hotel, in the honeymoon suite, surely worse things had been spilled onto the couches and bed and deep-cleaned later. Hell, he was pretty sure that _they_ had left worse in the bedroom.

Lance really needed to _not_ think of that right now. “…I mean I could just add it on to my student loans…? Not like I’ll ever finishing paying them off.” He looked up, catching the end of Keith’s eye roll. He scowled and snapped, “What?” He didn’t mean to get so defensive so quickly, it just happened.

“Poor Alpha has his student loans to deal with,” Keith said in both a bitter and mocking tone, crossing his arms in front of him. “At least you get to go to a proper university.”

Lance grimaced at that. Okay, maybe he didn’t appreciate the sarcasm, but the words were true enough. Omegas weren’t allowed to actually attend universities or colleges since their heats would ‘be a distraction on campus’ or ‘cause too many absences ‘. They were allowed to take online courses, but even then, unless they had permission from an Alpha relative, they were only allowed to take certain ones.

A lot of jobs considered heats too disruptive to bother hiring Omegas, so why bother training them? It was a very stupid thing, in Lance’s mind, and was exactly the type of shit that his sister was working hard with others to try and change.

“Right, sorry,” Lance muttered, setting the mug down and picking up the piece of paper that started this.

“No, it’s okay,” Keith said with a sigh and a shake of his head, clearly getting a grip on his emotions. “They’re different problems, but they’re still problems.” He motioned to the couch. “What caused this?”

Glad to have a segue into his discovery, Lance held up something. “Surprise, honey, we’re also legally married on top of being physically bonded.”

Keith stared. “What?”

“Seems like your name is Keith McClain now.”

“ _What_?” Keith pretty much flew across the room, snatching the paper out of his hand. Sure enough, there was a certificate there, a very official looking one at that, not one of the cheap ones from some street-side drive-thru marriage firm. Both of their signatures were there, meaning that they were, in fact, legally married to one another.

Lance’s Papá was going to _kill_ him.

He stared at Keith, waiting for some type of reaction, concern rushing through him when his already pale skin became milky white, panic and fear tainting his warm, honey-like scent.

A wave of fierce protectiveness came over him like he had never felt before, not even towards his nieces and nephews. He wanted to wrap Keith up in the softest blankets he could find and cuddle him until he was okay again.

Maybe that showed in his scent, because Keith’s eyes turned to him, staring at him almost warily, fingers digging into the paper.

Wait, was Keith afraid of _him_? That didn’t make sense. They were basically the same height, and Keith definitely looked like the stronger between the two of them. It wasn’t like Lance was going to hurt him or anything anyway, but he could probably keep himself safe. So why would he—oh. Oh!

Lance instantly felt idiotic. Just being bonded together made it so that, in the eyes of society, Lance ‘owned’ Keith. A ‘you bit it, you bought it’ kind of thing. _He_ could decide ‘nope you’re not going back home’ and there was _nothing_ anyone could do about it, not even familial Alphas, if Keith had any. He could prevent him from taking university courses online. If Keith ran, he would be ‘returned’ to him. He could _legally_ get documents that said Keith _had_ to have ten pups before they were thirty, and if he didn’t, Lance could punish him in whatever pre-determined way was listed in the documents.

It was _disgusting_ and something Lance would _never_ do. He wasn’t raised to think like that at all. It was part of the reason he and many of his family members were seen as ‘weaker’ or ‘sappy’ or something else that none of them cared about in that sense. Of course, they were strangers, Keith didn’t know that.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Lance blurted out. “I swear it. I’m not going to make you do anything. Not going to steal you from your family. We’ll figure out what’s going on here and then figure out what to do after, okay?”

Figure something out was a nice way of putting it. It might not have been as big a deal if it wasn’t for the fact that bonded Alphas only wanted their mates during ruts, and could get incredibly violent if they weren’t there. Similarly, bonded Omegas only wanted their mates during heats to the point of horrible emotional and physical pain. Not even the comfort of family or pack members would help them.

They _needed_ to sort this out. It wasn’t like there was some kind of miracle cure or something to take away the bite marks. Maybe it was something that science would work on one day, but it didn’t exist now. Omegas _barely_ had the right to leave an abusive spouse, and that was only if they had a lot of undeniable proof.

“Whatever happened next, we needed to find some painkillers. My head is killing me.”

Keith snorted at that, and Lance flushed, not realizing he had said it out loud.  The Omega moved, sitting on one of the chairs at the little table. Lance sat at the other one as Keith picked up a small card that was on it with interest. “We…won something?” Keith held the card out to Lance. “Free weekend in the honeymoon suite, meals included.”

“The Olkarion,” Lance muttered, looking at the logo on the card. “Never heard of it.” Vegas was filled with both high-end and low-end hotels and casinos though, so it wasn’t a surprise.

“I have,” Keith admitted. “Super high-end and ritzy. Exactly the type of place Allura would like.” He rolled his eyes slightly at that.

“Allura?” Lance couldn’t stop his voice from rising. Was Allura Keith’s girlfriend that he had intended on bonding with or something before Lance ruined everything? No, that couldn’t be right. Keith was far too calm about this for that.

“My sister-in-law.” Keith played with the black fingerless gloves that he wore. “She’s an only Omega child from a rich family, so technically, my brother is the one that ‘owns’ her inheritance now.”

“I take it he’s an Alpha?” Is this the person that was going to come for Lance’s life.

“Beta,” Keith said with a shrug. “My sister’s an Alpha though.” His voice didn’t sound nearly as warm talking about his sister. In fact, he sounded downright bitter, so the Alpha wisely decided not to ask about that yet.

Lance eyed him for a moment, taking in Keith once again while he was distracted. Something was nagging at the back of his mind, like a memory that was almost there, but just couldn’t quite reach the surface yet.

One thing he could see is why he would have noticed Keith out of everyone at wherever it was that they had met. The more he looked at him, the more (blurred) images started coming back to his mind.

“I think…” Lance trailed off, narrowing his eyes as Keith looked up. “I think that I remember seeing you somewhere. Probably wherever we met.” He flushed a bit. “I think I was staring at you because you’re hot.” He would have normally added a sly little wink or finger guns, but this situation really didn’t call for that.

“Me?” Keith blinked with surprise at that. “I’m just me. You’re gorgeous. Wait. No. I mean, yeah, but, uh…” He trailed off, his entire face instantly blooming into a bright pink.

Lance felt something inside of him flutter at that, happy that his Omega found him attractive. That was a good thing. Physical attraction could lead to sexual tension, which could lead to sex, which could lead to pups, which could lead to his mind fucking off because what the ever living shit? He was _not_ doing this right now.

Some people likened the instincts that came specifically from their dynamic (Alpha, Beta, Omega) almost like a separate being within them, but that wasn’t true at all. It was just a different aspect of who they each were (like being shy, or a pessimist, or a secret smartass), not a separate being that they had to fight with. It was more like when the brain sent intrusive thoughts out, expect they were backed up with instincts, hormones, and pheromones. It was a fun time.

He _needed_ to find something else to focus on before he started smelling gross and freaked Keith out. Okay, what did he know so far? They were at the Olkarion, which was in Vegas so that was good, they didn’t somehow end up in different city of anything. They were physically and legally bonded. Keith apparently had siblings. That was about it. Lance didn’t even know how old he was.

“How old are you?” he blurted out. His face burned, but he tried to keep his composure.

Keith’s thick eyebrow shot up. “I’ll be 23 in October.”

“Okay, okay, so we’re both 22. That’s cool. My birthday was last week.” So Keith was older than him by a bit. That was fine.

“Yeah, better than having some middle-aged Alpha trying to do this very thing to you. ” Keith motioned towards his neck. “I mean, you’re my age, and I don’t get the sense that you’re a total creep. You don’t seem like a douchecanoe yet, and you’re hot.”

Lance mouthed the word ‘douchecanoe’ but focused on Keith. “Those are super simple standards. Like, is there a story there?”

Keith parted his lips to say something when his stomach let out a massive growl. His hands shot to it, face darkening in colour.

The Alpha couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Okay. Let’s use this free food thing. Looks like we can call down.” He watched Keith eye the landline phone warily. “I can do it.”

“Okay.” Keith looked almost relieved about that. Looks like he was one of those people that absolutely _hated_ making phone calls.

They went through the menu, and Lance called down to place an order. When he was done, he looked up to see Keith rifling through some things. “Looking for something?”

“Wallet to leave a tip for the person who brings it.” Keith frowned. “I don’t…” He stopped, blinking several times. His head snapped up and he looked at Lance. “I remember you. I remember _meeting_ you.”

Lance perked up. “Do you?” An idea came to mind. “Hey, you know on TV how sometimes investigators will walk someone through the memory and it gets them to remember more things? Maybe if you tell me what you remember, it’ll help both of us figure things out. I _really_ want to know how we ended up here.”

He _wasn’t_ going to think about the fact that his friends must be frantic looking for him. That Keith’s family probably thought the worst (and wouldn’t be _entirely_ wrong, but at least he wasn’t dead or kidnapped or something).

“I guess it’s worth a shot.” Keith agreed. He looked down and said, “Okay. I’ll start with what I remember…”


	2. Ready To Run

Growing up, most people had assumed that Keith was an introverted, shy boy who kept all of his thoughts to himself and stay on the edges of a crowd. A little later on in life, many assumed that he was just ‘being a proper Omega’ by being seen but not heard.

Keith definitely wasn’t the type to really enjoy crowds, that was for sure. It wasn’t out of fear though, but more that he just didn’t like being around a ton of people for a long period of time. He’d much rather hang out with a couple close friends then deal with dozens of people he didn’t know.

It always came as a shock to people that he was no, in fact, introverted. Quiet, yes, but not an introvert. He didn’t like getting up in front of people, but did he care if he drew attention while arguing about something? Not at all. He wasn’t shy at all, and would never hesitate to debate or put his opinion in on things.

Of course, he knew he came across as brash and angry, though he didn’t mean to. He had learned quickly enough though that it was better for him to be ready to fight at any given moment.

He could take crowds, he just didn’t particularly enjoy them, and at the end of the day, going to a super busy place like Vegas, into some high-end casino called the Oriande, wasn’t exactly his ideal trip. He was just an Omega though, it’s not like he was allowed to say no when his sister, Acxa, announced that they were going.

Acxa was his twin, a little younger than him, but that didn’t matter. She was the only familial Alpha that he had now, so once she became of age, she basically got the rights to his life from their Omega mother. It was _stupid_.

His sister insisted that they had to go though, and assured him that their older brother, Shiro, and his mate, Allura, would be going as well. Along with some others that Keith didn’t know or care about. He knew what this was. This was Lotor’s doing. Who else would be pompous enough to hold their _own_ birthday party in _Vegas_? Keith couldn’t think of anyone else.

The sounds and lights from the casino were loud and annoying. Keith may have wandered around on his own for a bit to check out the area, but the second he got a little too far from Shiro, he instantly attracted the eyes of rich Alphas that felt like they could do no wrong.

Keith wasn’t one for drinking, though more and more drinks kept being delivered to their table. He had nothing against it, might have had one or two if he was in a spot that he felt was safe and secure, with people he trusted, but not somewhere like this. He wanted to keep all of his wits intact.

“You _can_ have one, if you like,” Allura spoke up, her almost posh accent drawing his attention. She nodded towards the drinks. “I’ll stay sober to keep an eye on things.” She narrowed her bright blue eyes, pushing a lock of dyed white hair out of the way. “I worry that your brother will get alcohol poisoning if he keeps this up.”

Takashi Shirogane, Keith’s older brother, blinked up at the two of them, several glasses around him. He smiled warmly at them and said, “You guys know you’re my two favourite people in the world, right? Allura, you’re the best mate ever. Keith, you’re my favourite little brother.”

Keith snorted at that, taking comfort in. “I’m your _only_ brother.” He reached over Allura’s shoulder and shoved him lightly.

“Okay, but hear me out, what if dad had _other_ girlfriends between my mom and your mom,” Shiro breathed out, his grey eyes widening dramatically. “We could have _more_ brothers or sisters.”

Breathing in deeply, Keith breathed in Shiro’s soft, study, rich scent of sandalwood. As Beta, he didn’t have a particularly powerful spicy or sweet scent, but it was soothing all the same. Though he knew Shiro had come into his life when he was about three, he still couldn’t remember a time without his older brother around. Sometimes it felt like he was truly the only person that never gave up on him, though that wasn’t entirely fair to his mother.

He tried not to smile, he really, really did. Keith couldn’t help it though. Shiro had been so tense lately for reasons that he didn’t even know, so it was nice to see him letting go a bit. At least one good thing came from this trip. “Who would be your favourite then?”

“Still you,” Shiro assured him with a serious nod of his head. He scowled. “Screw Acxa.”

“Shiro!” Allura elbowed him in the side, though it barely seemed to faze him. That came as no surprise though, because drunk Shiro thought he could do anything and laughed in the face of pain and danger. Kind of like with the treehouse motorcycle stunt.

They didn’t talk about the treehouse motorcycle stunt, but Keith really wished that they did.

Besides, it wasn’t like Keith was exactly happy with Acxa at the moment. She was his twin sister, they had shared a womb, and though she was an Alpha and he was an Omega, she wasn’t supposed to be acting the way that she was right now.

Shiro blinked and looked towards Allura, his expression softening slightly. “Sorry Ally. I just…she thinks that she owns Keith because they’re twins and I’m only their half-brother.” He looked back up at Keith, nodding seriously. “I got your back baby bro. I’m not going to let her sell you. Fuck that. I’m older.”

Keith felt his inside shift and squirm at the mention of that. God, how he would have loved to take the drinks that were being offered and get so wasted that he couldn’t even feel himself anymore. It was for that exact reason though that he wouldn’t touch a drop of alcohol.

Allura straightened her shoulders some. Allura Shirogane, nee Leonhart, was a fiercely beautiful woman, even Keith could see that, and he wasn’t at all attracted to women. Her mixed scents of lilacs and gardenias always seemed to linger wherever she went, drawing attention with easy.

Keith wasn’t at all attracted to his sister-in-law, but he sure as hell admired her. She was an Omega like him, and it was truly inspiring how she could take the reins of a situation and easily step into a commanding, leadership role. She didn’t at all let her dynamic impact what she could or couldn’t do. Omegas normally didn’t have high-end jobs, but Allura’s company had been left to her in her father’s will, and though Shiro technically had to be the one to legally own it, she was the one that ran everything, and everyone knew it. Shiro liked to focus on his small PI business. He even hired Keith as his bookkeeper, because he was shit with financing and money.

Keith knew it was just a bullshit job, given to him so that he felt like he was making his own money. He didn’t want anyone’s pity and wanted to do things for himself though, so he’d take it, since he knew he was at least helping his brother in some form.

His stomach twisted again. If Acxa got her way, he doubted that he’d be able to work with Shiro for much longer. Hell, he’d probably never be able to see his brother again, all things considered.

Allura brought him out of his thoughts when she said, “ _Sell_ him? What are you talking about?” She was staring at Shiro, who looked both outraged not at her, but at the topic at hand, and half sorry. This was something that they had desperately tried to keep away from her.

“You know how it is, Allura,” Keith spoke up, saving his brother from getting in trouble with is mate. She turned to look at him fully. “There’s this Alpha that seems a bit…interested in me. That’s all.”

The woman stared at him, her eyes such an intensely bright blue that it was almost uncomfortable. Slowly, her eyes turned to Shiro, and she just stared at her made.

God, Shiro and Allura were almost so perfectly together that it was borderline sickening, in a sweet way. Most people went on about how tall, handsome, and strong his brother was, assuming that he was an Alpha. It was true, Shiro seemed to embody everything that Alphas wanted to be, but he was quite content with his status as a Beta. At least until it came to something stupid like what Acxa was trying to do.

The thing was, Shiro and Allura almost hadn’t been mates, even though Shiro had been secretly pining for her for a while. So seeing them together was more than a bit of a victory. They worked so well together, and it was almost like they were able to communicate without words. It was like watching his parents years ago, before his father had passed away.

“Keith’s 22 and you know a lot of people think that’s too old for an Omega to be single, let alone not courting anyone at all,” Shiro said, shooting Keith an apologetic look. “Well, this Alpha has been stalking him, and Acxa thinks it’s a great idea for Keith to go with him, even if he’s a creep.”

Allura’s face twisted into one of shock. “What?”

Keith sighed, his shoulders slumping slightly as he fiddled with his fingerless gloves. “She says that she’s worried some random Alpha is going to grab me off the street.” His face scrunched up, eyebrows furrowing. “Not that I go anywhere on my own anyway.”

The three of them were quiet for a moment before she looked at Keith, horror passing over her features. “It’s Lotor, isn’t it?”

He could see it. He could smell it. Allura was strong, but there was that tint of both burning rage and sheer terror tinting her flowery scent. It was the reason that he and Shiro had agreed to _not_ tell her what was going on.

She knew all too well why Keith would _not_ be happy by Lotor’s advances. He could see her mind working. Why _else_ would they have been invited to Vegas to celebrate _Lotor’s_ birthday. The excuse Acxa had given them was that she was invited and so was her family, but they all knew that wasn’t entirely the truth.

Keith couldn’t stand to see the look in her eyes and turned away. Immediately, he locked onto a short woman with dyed blue hair and features very similar to his own. Along with her was a taller woman, red hair tied back into a long ponytail that was streaked with purple and yellow. Acxa was the shorter one, his rather serious other sister. Ezor was her mate, an enthusiastic, sometimes immature Beta that didn’t seem to believe in boundaries all the time.

If they had finally shown up, that could only mean one thing. Keith groaned, and said, “Great, he’s probably on his way here now.”

“Is your _mother_ okay with this?” Allura asked as Acxa and Ezor finally caught sight of them and started making their way over.

No, Keith had definitely _not_ gone to his mother, Krolia, about this. “Acxa is an Alpha. The day we turned 18 was the day the courts started taking her word about me over anyone else’s. My mom’s an Omega whose Alpha died. As far as any court would consider, she’s still grieving and not in her right mind to ‘take care’ of me.” He sighed. “I mean, mom could probably fight it but she doesn’t need that stress.”

“I still think you should tell her,” Shiro muttered almost bitterly. Though not Krolia son, she had eagerly embraced him into their family when he came to them after his own mother had passed away, treating him like her own. Keith knew that Shiro appreciated it and cared for her a lot.

“That’s disgusting,” Allura hissed, slapping her hand down on the table.  God I hate this. I hate that we’re like—like _trading_ cards.” She scowled. “Unfortunately, Acxa’s right.” Keith looked up at her, unable to hide his shock. “Not about Lotor.” She said his name with so much disgust that it was actually funny. “About you being on the streets. More and more Omegas are vanishing from all over the country.”

“The epidemic that’s sweeping the nation: missing unmated Omegas.” He didn’t mean to make light of the situation, it was actually incredibly horrifying, but everything was so screwed up in his own personal life that he found it hard to have the energy to care about those he didn’t know. No, that wasn’t right. He cared, he was just exhausted and needed to stay focused on himself, lest he become another one of those missing people. “I’m still not going with Lotor.”

“And why not?”

They all jumped, looking up to see Acxa slide into a seat at their table. She looked directly at Keith, her eyes just slightly bluer than his, her skin a little paler.

“Yeah, Keithy.” Ezor sat beside Acxa, throwing her arm over her shoulder. She grinned at him, sky blue eyes twinkling mischeviously. “I don’t get it. Lotor’s rich, powerful, athletic, and objectively good looking. I mean, technically you don’t even have to like him. Just take the money and awesome sex.”

Shiro let out a sound that was almost like a growl at that. It sounded almost like a noise an Alpha would make if their pack was threatened in some way. Keith always had thought that Shiro would be an amazing pack leader, Beta or not.

“I’m not some kind of gold-digger Ezor.” She too was his sister-in-law, but he didn’t like her nearly as much as Allura. “You sound awfully interested though.” Both Ezor and Acxa worked for Lotor and seemed to have been brought into his inner circle of sorts, it was how they met in the first place.

Ezor waved him off. “Just trying to do a friend a solid. I know where I’m at.” She smirked slyly at Acxa.

Keith rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, slumping back in his seat a bit. Could he not leave now? He had socialized. That was good enough. Maybe there was a way he could slink back to his room at The Marmora, seal it off and go to sleep.

It didn’t help that he was a little more tired lately. His heat would be coming very soon after they go home from this trip, another reason he hadn’t really wanted to go. He’d be fine until they got home, but he was definitely slightly more tired and irritable.

“Oh no,” Allura muttered, a positively acidic scent drifting from her.

Keith didn’t even have to look up, knowing who was coming up behind him even before the hand rested on his shoulder firmly.

Lotor’s scent almost made Keith’s eyes water in a bad way. Like most Alphas, it was almost a spicy scent, but to Keith, Lotor’s was a strong, pungent smell, almost reminding him of wasabi. Except he’d take eating an entire bowl of wasabi ice cream over being around the Alpha too long, and he was lactose intolerant.

“I apologize for my tardiness,” Lotor’s rich, smooth voice spoke up. “I had something else to attend to while we were here. I do hope that you’ve been enjoying yourselves. I insisted to the bar tenders earlier that you be given all the drinks you desire.” He gracefully sat down into the spot beside Keith, who stared at the once free space in mourning.

A firm squeeze on his shoulder forced Keith to look up at him. Objectively speaking, Lotor was incredibly handsome. He was taller than Keith and obviously took good care of himself. He had dark skin, hair so light that it was almost white like Allura’s, and navy blue eyes. Everything about him screamed that he was a well to-do Alpha, that he was exactly what an Alpha should be.

Except everything was wrong to Keith. He didn’t like how he had to crane his head to meet his eyes. He didn’t like how his default expression seemed to be belittling. He didn’t like his dismissive air. Maybe Lotor was someone’s type, but he definitely wasn’t Keith’s.

Of course, that might have been the fact that Keith wasn’t blinded by a pretty face and suave, savvy words. He _knew_ what Lotor was.

Allura, years before she began relationship with Shiro, had been involved with Lotor. They had known her even then, she was a few years older than Keith and a couple younger than Shiro. It had been a strange coincidence that she ended up being a mentor to Keith during school, because apparently Shiro had been _her_ student mentor. It was some wild six degrees of separation.

They had kept in contact with one another even after she graduated, and Keith could still remember just how head over heels for Lotor that Allura seemed to have been. It had confused his poor sophomore self, but he had been a rambuncous teenage boy, who could blame him for not understanding things about romance.

He remembered feeling like she was pulling away. Feeling like she was being isolated. It was when a guidance counsellor had come in to talk to a group of Omegas to warn them of a trick some nasty Alphas used that sounded exactly like what was happening to his friend. They isolated them from other friends and even family, made it seem like _they_ were the only one the Omega could count on, the only one that cared for them.

Allura was smart though. She had started seeing warning signs on her own too. She didn’t say much about it, just that she figured out exactly what his views on Omegas were and had gotten away from him. Following that was months of stalking, so she knew exactly what Keith was feeling right now. It only got worse when Shiro and Allura started courting.

Lotor had been _livid_ when they decided to become mates with one another.

That’s why, when the Alpha had suddenly zeroed in on him, Keith knew _exactly_ what he was doing. Keith wasn’t Lotor’s type, he didn’t have any kind of money or prestige to add to Lotor’s lifestyle, though he knew he was attractive by conventional standards. No, Keith knew that there were only two reasons that he was on Lotor’s radar at all.

One, he was Acxa’s brother, and she was brought into Lotor’s inner circle, so obviously it would make sense for the Alpha to meet her Omega brother.

Two, he was also Shiro’s younger brother and Allura’s friend. What better way to get back at Shiro for ‘taking his Omega’ then to try and take the brother that he cared about a lot.

He hated it.

“Hm, I did give the bartenders permission to serve the Omegas as well,” Lotor’s silky voice broke through Keith’s internal musings.

Allura leaned more on Shiro’s arm and said, “If either of us wanted to drink, we would have, and I would have paid for it.”

Lotor met her gaze, something dark passing through his eyes as he looked at her and Shiro. Instead of answering, he glanced down towards Keith. “Surely one won’t hurt?” His arm slid across his shoulders.

Keith tried to shrug him off, keeping his arms crossed and everything about his posture unwelcoming. “Not interesting.”

He saw the scowl, the bit of rage that came from him being a ‘difficult Omega’. Keith knew exactly what Lotor’s type was. The type that expected Omegas to bow down at his whim. Screw that. Lotor was, if nothing, a great actor though. “No, that won’t do. I insist. Ezor?” He leaned closer to her, saying something that Keith could hear. Ezor stared at the Alpha for a moment, eyes darting to Keith quickly before plastering a smile on her face that didn’t quite meet her eyes. She nodded and jumped up, leaving the group and heading towards the bar. Lotor’s arm stayed across Keith’s shoulder, grip tightening and he shifted closer.

“Happy Birthday, Lotor,” Shiro spoke up. “You’re…how old now?” Normally Shiro would have kept his voice neutral, but he didn’t bother to hide the hostility and sarcasm. Come to think of it, why _had_ Shiro drunk so much? Keith knew he tended to drink whatever was in front of him if he was nervous or worked up (which was usually water or some kind of health drink), but it was almost like the bartender had been purposely bringing _Shiro_ more and more.

Keith didn’t like where his thoughts were going.

“Oh, I’m celebrating my 27th birthday,” Lotor answered easily. “That would make you nearly 30, would it not? And without any pups. Though I suppose it is dreadfully hard for Betas to conceive, even with an Omega. An Alpha and an Omega though, one heat is all it takes.”

It took everything Keith had to _not_ grab the knife that he had smuggled in with him and stab it into Lotor’s leg. What he was saying wasn’t technically wrong, it was very hard for Betas to have children, and they were much more likely to have some form of genetic defect or illness. No one was quite sure _why_ it happened, just that it did. There was also a _much_ higher infant and mother mortality rate in Betas than Omegas. Keith had also heard horror stories of what could happen to a Beta if they had an Alpha partner that wasn’t careful, since they weren’t built for ruts or knots.

It was why so many Alphas said that they preferred Omegas.

Keith also knew that this was a bit of a sore spot for Shiro, since he and Allura did want a pup. It actually made Keith feel a bit sad, because he also knew that Lotor was right about the fact that, if he wanted to, he could probably get pregnant relatively easily. He just didn’t want to. Not right now at least. Having his own family was actually something that did appeal to Keith, but he wanted to actually meet the right person first.

That person certainly wasn’t Lotor.

Allura looked at the Alpha with clear distaste. “Well, it certainly makes for a fun time trying.” Keith almost choked on his spit. He couldn’t believe that she said that. From the look on both Shiro and Acxa’s faces, they couldn’t believe it either. “But that is not the point. Thank you for allowing Acxa to bring us. It was very generous of you.”

Lotor narrowed his eyes at first, but then a smirk that made Keith’s stomach twist in a bad way spread across his lips. His grip tightened. “Yes. We have much to celebrate and it was only right for everyone to be here.”

That didn’t make any sense at all. Keith’s eyes moved to Acxa. His sister was normally quiet, even more so than him, but she looked downright uncomfortable and winced when she met his gaze, looking away in shame.

Ezor came back with a tray of drinks. “Right, one for everyone! Everyone needs one to toast!”

“No thank you,” Allura repeated with a tight smile, raising her glass of water up.

Keith looked at the one set in front of him with disinterest. It was something that he would normally drink if he was having one or two, but he was not ingesting _any_ mind-altering substances around Lotor.

“Come on, I insist,” Lotor said, setting his hand on the top of Keith’s glass and pushing it towards him. Like that made it any more appealing.

Keith reached out, pulling the glass closer, but made no move to drink it.

Not at all deterred, Lotor leaned closer, inhaling very close to him. “It’s a shame you insist on wearing those horrid blockers. They block that delectable scent.” His fingers traced along the collar that Keith wore around his neck.

When he was younger, Keith had looked at collars with disgust, not understanding how Omegas could wear them. They marked them as something to be owned, as property, like a pet. He had been a stupid teenager back then and didn’t realize just how much he would come to appreciate them.

The collars weren’t signs of ownership, they were signs of freedom. They were designed to protect an Omega’s primary scent gland so that an Alpha couldn’t bite them against their will, often keyed to be opened by their touch and their touch alone. It wasn’t a perfect thing, but Keith learned from the _one_ time he thought he might have a relationship with someone who happened to be an Alpha, that they were very helpful.

His was a simple black one with a couple of purple details, a gift from his mother. He had a few, but this one was his favourite.

Under the collar he wore a simple strip that blocked his scent. It wasn’t perfect, but it made him a lot less noticeable. He had tried to take suppressants when he was younger, but had nearly died from an allergic reaction to them. Needless to say, he couldn’t use those at all.

The main scent gland was considered a very personal part of the body. Not that it wasn’t appropriate to see them in public, it was just skin on their necks, but it was how humans bonded and that was borderline sacred.

People didn’t just touch them, or collars, like Lotor was doing right now.

Shiro leaned forward, taking Keith’s drink from him, much to his relief, and glaring at Lotor. “Get your hands off my brother.” There was definitely a bit of a growl to his tone.

Betas were unfairly overlooked, and that prompted many people to forget just _how_ protective they could get over their family and pack members. If Shiro wasn’t so drunk, Keith knew his brother could take Lotor with ease, but in his state, he wasn’t sure he wanted to see what would happen.

Lotor’s scent twisted with smug satisfaction and it took everything Keith had not to vomit from that alone. “I have every right to do as I wish.”

Everyone froze for a moment, before Shiro said, “Excuse me, what does that mean?”

Lotor’s fingers were definitely leaving a bruise on his arm. “After tomorrow, you won’t have to worry about Keith anymore.”

SHiro’s head snapped towards Acxa. “What did you _do_?”

“Acxa?” Keith asked at the exact same time, dread filling him. His heart started pounding in his chest wildly. He had been trying to keep cool this whole time, to not make a scene and be seen as a hysterical Omega, but he felt like he was on the edge of a cliff, teetering back and forth.

Acxa couldn’t meet his eyes as she said, “It’s for the best.”

Lotor’s fingers were suddenly on Keith’s chin, jerking his head back so that they were staring at one another. He seemed to be almost revelling in the startled fear that Keith couldn’t hide. “Why, she’s talking about our bonding ceremony tomorrow.” He ran his fingers along his collar. “We’ve just finished going over the paperwork that says she gives permission. It’ll be nice to see you without that collar on.”

Ezor suddenly yelped and hit the table, causing a cascade of drinks to fall onto Keith, Lotor, Allura, and Shiro. Lotor let go of Keith’s chin, scowling at her.

“Sorry,” she said weakly. “My leg got pinched on the seat.” Unless Keith was seeing things, she looked at Allura quickly. “Sorry. I’ll get new drinks.”

“We need to clean ourselves up,” Allura said suddenly, rising from her seat and grabbing Keith’s arm “Keith, would you like to join me? We’ll go into the Omega’s room.” She ignored Lotor and gave Shiro a pointed look. He was still holding Keith’s drink and nodded his head.

Allura practically _dragged_ him through the casino. She was deceptively strong, especially when she was angry. Keith didn’t say anything, following her along almost numbly.

They got into the Omega’s washroom, and she exploded. “What a disgusting asshole! And your sister! I can’t believe her!”

Her rage broke him out of his stupor. Instantly, Keith felt his own anger well up within him. He knew Acxa had been pressuring him to agree to Lotor’s advances lately, but this was something else altogether. Maybe if he was in his right mind, he would have gone on a blinding rage, he did have a bit of a temper, but that anger was still overwhelmed but sheer, genuine fear.

“I can’t do this, Allura. I should have known. I can’t—he can’t…he’s been trying shit like this for _ages_ since you rejected him and went with Shiro. We didn’t want you to worry.” He was breathing rapidly. God, was he going to have a panic attack too? “You know, he once broke into our house and fucking _scented_ my room. Acxa signed _papers_. You _know_ what’s going to happen.” Of course she knew, Lotor had tried to do the same thing to her.

Omegas weren’t people to him. They were a pretty doll to use as he pleased, to fuck and breed and that was it. Allura had escaped that fate, and now Lotor was trying to force it onto Keith.

The worst part was that if he tried to go to the police with stalking charges, or to get a restraining order, they would just see that Lotor had Acxa’s permission. They couldn’t do anything to help Keith. It was an Alpha’s right, after all.

“Look at me.” He managed to get control of his breathing and looked at Allura. Everytihng about her was protectively fierce. “I’m getting you out of here. I’m going to go make a show of going back to the others – I purposely forgot my purse with Shiro. You’re going to watch and wait for a moment, and then you’re going to go hide in another room for a bit. IF you see Lotor coming, hide. Okay? We’ll get you back to the Marmora.” She grabbed his arms, squeezing them tightly. “I’m going to help you figure this out. We’ll call Coran and I’ll _hide_ you if I have to. Again, if he comes, _hide_.”

Keith numbly nodded his head as she looked out again and walked away. He watched her, and once he was sure that Lotor couldn’t see him, he bolted. He didn’t want to stray far from the door in case he needed to run, but there were so many people milling about that surely Lotor wouldn’t see him? He wouldn’t be able to track his scent in this crowd, so there was that.

It was like the universe hated him. He could see the Alpha heading in his direction, though he was sure that he hadn’t seen him yet. “Oh, fuck me.” He pivoted to leave into another room, running head-first into another man. They both stumbled, but managed to keep their footing.

A spicy scent with just a tint of sweetness and earthy tones to it assaulted Keith’s senses, and if he wasn’t so panicked right now, he probably would have preened at how good it smelled. Clearly not all Alphas were disgusting, just Lotor. “

“Woah! Watch it!” The Alpha cried out, drawing a bit of attention towards them. No, that wasn’t what Keith wanted at all.

Maybe they were close enough for this strange to smell the fear and panick on him, or maybe it was showing on his face, Shiro often told him that he had the worst poker face ever, but the hostile tone suddenly turned into a worried one. “Hey, are you okay?’

Keith could see Lotor getting closer. “Hide me.”

There was some hesitation, but then he felt a pair of arms wrap around him and they were moving, slinking into the corner, hidden by a slot machine. The Alpha was roughly the same size and height as Keith, perhaps just a tad skinnier and taller, but he still effectively blocked Lotor from spying Keith as he moved by.

The Alpha shifted, looking over his shoulder as the blond head of hair vanished. “Who was the Draco Malfoy wannabe?”

“Some asshole who won’t take no for an answer, and I don’t know what he’d…no I know exactly what he’d do if he got me alone,” Keith blurted out. Oh no, he was doing that oversharing thing again that he tended to do when someone got him going on a topic. For all he knew, this Alpha was one of those ones that would take offense _for_ Lotor and throw Keith back to him.

The Alpha tensed, and Keith caught a wiff of hostility that had him cringing, but then he also caught some protectiveness.

For the first time, he actually looked at the Alpha that he was standing close to, and promptly forgot how to breathe.

He was _beautiful_. Though he was only a smidge taller than Keith, and was the slightest bit leaner, he had clear, dark skin, short brown hair that somehow looked impossibly soft, and dark blue eyes that reminded Keith of the ocean. Not the tropical beaches that were manicured and looked almost fake, but the dark blue of the open, free ocean.

Yeah, his heart needed to stop doing that racing thing unless it was going to kill him. That was the only way it was acceptable at this point.

The Alpha looked at him, and seemed almost startled, eyes roaming over his face. If this was any other situation, Keith may have flirted with him a bit, he wasn’t a complete slouch at that no matter what others thought, but it was _not_ a normal situation.

It was a shame too, because, physically at least, this man was _exactly_ his type.

“Jesus,” the Alpha breathed out. He glanced around, brow furrowing slightly. “Who’d you come here with? I can get you back to them.”

Keith shook his head quickly. “No. That’s who I’m trying to get away from.” He thought about the entire situation, and realized that Lotor would probably end up waiting for him back at his hotel room. Oh god, he was going to be sick. “I think I’m just going to go throw myself into traffic instead. Point me to the front door.”

Now, let it be known that Keith was not the type of person to joke about suicide. Not in the least. That being said, he realized with startling clarity that he wasn’t joking at all. In fact, his intrusive thoughts were having a field day in relatively painless ways that he could off himself if he was forced to go anywhere with Lotor.

Shit, Keith would _actually_ kill himself before he became Lotor’s mate. His mind had decided that death was better. How twisted was that? Keith didn’t at all want to die, but living _with_ Lotor was a worse fate to him.

“Uh…” the Alpha stared at him oddly. Shit, he must be able to tell that Keith’s kind of serious. “Okay, going back is a no-no. I take it that guy is part of that group.” He paused and looked him over. “Um if you want to hide from him for a bit you can chill with me and my friends?” He took a step away, giving Keith some space and holding his hands up. “Not that you have to. I’m Lance, by the way. I have friends that are a Beta and Omega, if that helps any. So you’re not just with an Alpha. Well, two Alphas. But Hunk’s harmless. We’re playing games.”

The sheer honesty in his words and in his scent startled Keith. This stranger was genuinely willing to let him, a strange Omega hiding from a crazy Alpha, hang out with him. What was even crazier was that Keith was absolutely considering it.

It was certainly a more appealing option than throwing himself in traffic.

“I’m a stranger,” he said, natural wariness coming back to him. Keith wasn’t the type of person to just shut down and let things happen to him, or so he thought. That had been a lot of what had happened moments ago, and he didn’t like it at all.

The Alpha, Lance shrugged slightly. “I mean, you don’t have to come. That’s okay. I just…I’d feel bad if I could have helped you and something bad happened? You know?” He looked alarmed again. “Shit! I’m not trying to guilt you either! And I swear I’m not trying to hit on you or trick or or anything.” He waved his arms around. “And I mean, your friends were once strangers too, right?”

“I—what?” Keith stared at him, completely perplexed. Who was this guy?

The Omega trusted his gut. It made people call him reckless, but he didn’t agree with that at all. He was just very good at looking at a situation, adapting to it, and moving. Things usually worked out well for him. His actual _planning_ needed a lot of work, or someone to help him out at least, but that wasn’t the point.

The point was that he trusted his gut, and it was saying good things about this Lance guy.  
  
Besides, it might be fun to actually do something, not just sound around and be a pretty Omega for Alphas to ogle in public. He held his hand out. “Okay. I’m Keith, by the way.”

Lance smiled broadly and reached out, grasping his hand and shaking it. “It’s nice to meet you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for all the amazing feedback! And you know, if you guys see the typos I miss (since I don't really bother editing my stuff myself), don't be shy to point it out. I almost always go back and change things, as long as people aren't jerks.
> 
> Also, heads up, Lotor's a bad guy here.
> 
> I'm also a little confused about what the showrunners are doing? Saying Shiro's bond with Black was broken (basically confirming that Keith is the Black Paladin now) but also hinting that the white lion isn't done with Shiro? Talking about Klance and shipping, and how shipping them is actually a natural part of their progression, knowing how the fandom is going to take that? Someone mentioning that something's going to happen between Keith and Acxa? To which I say IT BETTER because we need to know why she keeps saving him and like people need to chill, saying things happen with character doesn't mean romantic stuff (we know they're not siblings now like they are in this fic). 
> 
> What is even happening?
> 
> Again, my [tumblr](https://storiesbeyondthestars.tumblr.com/) is active now, so if you guys wanna drop by there and ask questions to have discussions (I keep anonymous on), go ahead. 
> 
> For those who read Ignite the Stars, I have an edit of baby and toddler Karina there. I also added them to chapter 24 and 30 of that story on here too.


	3. What I Think I Know

It was a little blurry, but Lance could see it. He had been sneaking around the Oriande, having heard rumours that the band he had come to see, Voltron, would be staying there, and hoped that maybe he could get Blue’s autograph. She was his favourite, after all. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any luck, but that was probably for the best.

He could remember heading back towards his friends when, out of nowhere, someone crashed into him. He had managed to stop both of them from falling to the floor, and was more than a little annoyed. At first, the only think Lance could tell was that they had black hair. The close proximity let him get a whiff of a faintly sweet smell, and it occurred to him that this man was an Omega.

This man was also tense, and only because they were close (he must have had a scent suppressant strip or something on under his collar, which meant that he was _unmated_ too), Lance caught the bit of panic and fear. Not only that, but Lance could see it on his face.

So of course he had agreed to hide him when the Omega asked. He did what he could, hiding them behind machines and with his own body. He had spied who the Omega was looking at, instantly put on guard.

He remembered Lotor now. Remember instantly disliking him by sheer looks alone. Lance knew that was wrong, but it happened anyway. The guy he was hiding didn’t _feel_ weak, so this dude had to be bad news.

He remembered being horrified at the implication that, if that dude (an Alpha, he assumed), got a hold of this man, he’d do something bad to him. He remembered being terrified when Keith said that he couldn’t go back to anyone and that he was just going to kill himself, because there was definitely some truth to the words in his eyes.

Keith had been _desperate_ to get away from Lotor. Lance knew that it wasn’t within the nature of Omegas (that he had met), to go with strangers, which was why he tried to come across as unthreatening as possible and mentioned Matt and Pidge, his Beta and Omega friends who happened to be siblings.

He had been glad that Keith agreed to go with him.

Now, sitting in the beautiful honeymoon suite at the Olkarion, not sure how they got there, but well aware now of how they met, Lance was able to fully process it. There was relief there. He hadn’t just grabbed Keith off the street or something horrible.

Keith looked up at him with those indigo eyes that he now remembered thinking were beautiful the first time he saw them last night. Okay, the physical attraction had definitely been there from the beginning, that made some sense. Keith pushed a piece of the waffle that he had gotten around in the mass amount of thick syrup on his plate (Lance was really getting the impression that Keith loved sweet things, he had put an alarming amount of sugar in his coffee), looking unsure for a moment. He shifted and then said, “Thank you.”

Lance blinked. “For what?”

“For hiding me from Lotor,” Keith said, looking almost defeated. “He has been doing that stupid, overly aggressive courting shit for _months_. I’ve argued and fought back, and normally I’d be okay on my own, but last night it was just…too much.”

“Well, I mean, your sister’s an Alpha, right? She’s supposed to help you, protect you.” He held up his hands at Keith’s sharp look. “Not saying you need it, you look like you could definitely take me out, but she still should have been on your side, right? Not tricking you into bonding with a total douchecanoe.”

Keith’s lips ticked up in a small smile at the use of the word he had spouted earlier. He then frowned, brow furrowing. “I hope he doesn’t try to…I don’t know, sue you or something.”

“For what?” Lance couldn’t fathom how anyone he had never met would find a reason to sue him.

“My sister signed papers giving him permission to bond with me,” Keith said, trying to hide the shudder that wracked his body at the thought. Lance decided not to draw attention to him. “And within hours, I bond with you instead.” He motioned towards the certificate.

“Oh, right.” Lance’s brow furrowed. Hadn’t Veronica, his sister, mentioned something about something like this once?  “I don’t think he can. I mean, he’d probably demand the bonding certificate be void if that’s all we had, but he can’t do anything about these, right?” He motioned towards his own neck. “That’s what matters most. Doesn’t matter if he has money or not, because I bet other rich Alphas would be uncomfortable with the thought that someone could come in and try to _take_ their mate.” Because that’s what Keith was. They didn’t know each other, but they were mates.

Maybe it was his instincts, maybe it was his pride, but Lance liked to think that he was just being a good person by being willing to fight for Keith on this. _He_ wasn’t going to hurt him in any way. Surely that was better than Lotor, right?

“I guess,” Keith said, looking unsure. “I wouldn’t know. Omegas rarely get a say in things like this.” It was a subconscious gesture, but his hand rose up, tracing against the mark Lance left on his neck.

Lance stared at him as he took a sip of his orange juice, and promptly started coughing and choking, once again spluttering his drink everywhere. Keith made a distinctly worried coo and instantly clapped his hands over his mouth, face going red. Lance’s coughing turned into almost hysterical laughter.

“It’s not funny,” Keith hissed, his face red as he kicked Lance’s shin. “Jerk. To think I was worried about you choking.”

“You won’t help me if I do?” Lance asked through chuckles, eyes watering from getting orange juice in his nose. That was not at all fun.

“Perish,” Keith said, so seriously, that it set Lance off again.

“Okay, okay.” He managed to catch his breath. “Sorry. I was just—I realized I’m the _exact_ reason your sister wanted to set you up with someone! A random Alpha? That’s me.” He motioned towards himself. “Swiping you out from under her noise and carting you off to bond with.”

Keith’s mouth fell open, like he was about ready to argue, but stopped. He blinked several times before saying, “Holy shit.” He paused. “Well, I didn’t wake up locked up in your trunk or anything, so there’s that? I mean, I can get out of a trunk no problem, Shiro made sure I knew how, but still, this is an improvement on that.” He motioned around them.

Lance snorted. A honeymoon suite in a fancy hotel was a little more than an upgrade from a dirty, dark trunk. Another thought came to him at the mention of Keith’s brother. “Holy shit, he’s going to _murder_ me. And so is your sister. I’m going to die. Holy shit, that’s nothing compared to if Loturd gets his hands on me.” He stared at Keith, who was mouthing the word ‘Loturd’ with obvious amusement. “Well, at least I got to mate with a hot Omega before I died.”

Keith laughed rather than taking offense to that, like Lance kind of worried he would. He looked at him with genuine amusement. “Well, that goes onto the list of things I know about you already.”

“Oh, and what’s that?” He didn’t _mean_ for his voice to take on a flirty tone, he really didn’t, but here they were.

Not that Keith seemed at all bothered by it. In fact, he didn’t seem to care one way or another. “Your name is Lance. You’re 22. You’re an Alpha. You’re hot.” Lance flushed brightly at that, and Keith smirked. “You help random Omegas who are in trouble. You also invited me to hang with your friends even though I was a stranger. So you’re a people-person too. You respect me more than my own sister apparently does, and I get the feeling it’s not just because we fucked. You already treat me way better than that asshole would have.” He looked down slightly before looking up at him again. “That says a lot.”

For the second time that morning, Lance was _dying_. At first, it was from his godawful hangover that he could still slightly feel the remnants of. Now he was going to combust into flames. How dare Keith do this to him? He cleared his throat, deciding that two could play at this. “Yeah, well, your name is now Keith _McClain_.” He couldn’t help but add his teasing tone to that. Sure, legally that was Keith’s name now, but he wasn’t going to force him to refer to himself as that beyond being playful. “You’re 22, almost 23, and your birthday’s in October. You like sugary things to the point where I’m worried you got diabetes from breakfast alone. You’re gorgeous.” Ha! Keith was blushing now too, even if he was clearly trying not to. “You’re an Omega. You’re stubborn and don’t give in to shitty Alphas. I’m going to say you face conflicts head-on because yeah, you’re not flinching away from this. I’m also pretty sure that you handle hangovers way better than me cause we both got blackout drunk and I feel like shit.”

Keith tilted his head slightly and fuck if that wasn’t adorable. “I’ve never gotten blackout drunk before. I’ve never gotten drunk before at all. So I have _nothing_ to compare this too.”

“Okay, that’s just not fair at all, you’re definitely better off than me. I thought I was _dying_ when I woke up.” He narrowed his eyes at him. “Wait, you’ve never been drunk before? Ever?”

“I’ve had drinks before, but I always make sure to stop when I start feeling a bit buzzed,” Keith explained. He scowled. “It’s a lot easier for someone like _Lotor_ to try and take advantage of you when you’re not all there.”

Lance flinched. “Right. Sorry. I mean, that’s clearly what I did, right?” This was going to bother him for a long time. He had always sworn that he’d _never_ do something that someone didn’t want. Yet here he had bonded and had sex with someone when they were both so drunk that they didn’t remember it.

Suddenly, Keith straightened up. He pressed his lips together, and looked almost angry. Here we go. Lance braced himself for an onslaught of anger as things finally hit him that he had been taken advantage of. What he said next took him by complete surprise.

“You know what, maybe it wasn’t you. Maybe it was me. Alphas sometimes get pulled in by Omegas. Maybe I was so desperate to get away from him that I pulled you in. I don’t know. I can’t remember.” He motioned around the room. “This isn’t the hotel I stayed in, I have no idea where this is, but I do remember thinking that I couldn’t go back to _mine_ at the Marmora, thinking Lotor was probably going to wait there for me. Maybe I did this. Maybe I made you take me here, mate with me so he couldn’t.”

Lance actually _had_ heard of a case where that happened, and the courts had no idea what to do with an Alpha that didn’t want the Omega they were bonded to. Something about this didn’t sit right in Lance’s mind though. He _knew_ that wasn’t what happened. He didn’t know what it was, but it wasn’t that. At the same time though, that same feeling reared its head when he thought about how he might have forced himself on Keith. It just didn’t feel right.

“Firstly, I doubt that. I’ve always had excellent control, even when drunk and in ruts, thanks.” He frowned a bit. “When I was younger, an Alpha took one of my cousins.” He shifted uncomfortably, not wanting to talk about this, but needing to explain his outlook on things. “My cousin, he was an Omega and was courting a Beta. I remember she was really nice. Anyway, this female Alpha shows up and just…took him away. She took him away, and forced herself on him. And you know what? No one could do anything about it, because it resulting in a bondmark and a pup. She _owned_ him then. Apparently, if she _wouldn’t_ have bit him, then she could have been charged.” Lance looked up at Keith, eyes blazing. “Every single person in my family decided to actively start protesting the treatment and laws around Omegas. I mean, I’m a marine biologist, but I’d definitely go to some kind of rally or protest with them, you know? So, yeah, even if I was drunk, I don’t think you could have force me to do anything that I—that I didn’t want to, and I would never have wanted to force you into anything.”

Lance wasn’t quite sure _where_ he was going with this, but he wanted Keith to know. He wasn’t trying to force the view that he was a good guy onto him, Keith could think what he wanted, but he needed to share this.

Keith stared at him, and Lance’s heart raced at the genuine awe that was there. He took a deep breath and said, “So, I guess that means we probably agreed to this together.” His voice was shaky, but not in a frightened way. In fact, he looked at Lance in a way that was almost soft. “You know, I think I see why I would have either said yes or suggested it.”

He couldn’t hide the flush on his face as his heart raced. Shit, he was _not_ supposed to be feeling this way about a stranger, mate or not. He didn’t believe in love at first sight, he had been burned far too many times for that, but attraction at first sight was definitely a thing, and he was definitely feeling some form of affection towards him.

Shit. He really needed to get another, impartial voice in on this to help him clear his thoughts. Maybe Hunk could help.

Holy shit. Hunk. Pidge. Matt. They had to be freaking out about where he was. Double shit, that was probably _nothing_ compared to how Keith’s family was freaking out about where _he_ was.

“Where’s my jacket?” Lance said with a yelp. He had been so focused on dealing with this situation right here and now that it hadn’t even _occurred_ to him to actually try to get in touch with one of his friends.

Keith was clearly startled by the sudden switch in topic and tone. He looked around and said, “I didn’t see one.”

“Oh shit,” Lance said as he got up and started running around. “My phone, my friends! They must be freaking out! And you said your wallet was gone earlier, right? Holy shit! Your brother and sister probably think you were abducted!”

Keith’s eyes widened hilariously, and he got up to start scrambling around to look for his too. It was funny, they had mentioned their friends and family, but it didn’t hit _either_ of them to actually try to get a hold of them.

Despite the fact that both of them were looking (“Why are you looking under the couch?” “Do _you_ remember exactly what we did last night?” “…Continue on.”), neither one of them turned up their phones, jackets, or wallets.

“We _must_ have had something at some point, right?” Keith asked, his brow furrowed as Lance sat by the phone that was in the room, dialing different phone numbers. “I mean, we had to have ID to do a legal bonding ceremony, and we had to have paid for it.”

“That is a _very_ good point,” Lance agreed, brow furrowing as he dialed yet another number. “Maybe we left it at the desk downstairs or something? Why is no one answering me? What happened last night?” He suddenly had a very bad feeling that he and Keith weren’t the only ones that had an absolutely wild night last night.  “Ugh, you try yours.”

Keith stared at the phone and looked back at Lance sheepishly.

“You…know their numbers, right?” Lance asked, both eyebrows raising.

“I usually just go into my recent calls or contacts,” Keith admitted sheepishly. “I do remember my mom’s, though that’s not going to help any. We live in northern Nevada.”

Lance _wanted_ to judge him, but honestly, he couldn’t remember all the numbers in his phone either. He remembered the important ones though. So maybe he could judge a bit. “Well, you could call her so that someone knows you’re not a missing person. That way she can tell everyone else.”

Keith shrugged and moved over to the phone, dialling the number and holding it to his ear. Lance could hear the phone ringing, and could hear when a woman picked up. “Hello?”

“Hi mom,” Keith answered easily, like he wasn’t sitting in a hotel room with a stranger who happened to be his mate now.

“Keith! How are you? Are you having fun in Vegas?” She didn’t sound _at all_ worried, just happy to hear from him. From the look on Keith’s face, he clearly thought this was as odd as Lance felt it was.

“Did Acxa or Shiro not call you?” Keith aske hesitantly. Lance got up to give them a little bit of privacy, but Keith grabbed his arm, grip firm, and he tugged Lance back down beside him with a glare.

“Why would they call me?” She suddenly sounded tense. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, that’s why I’m calling, to tell you I am,” Keith said quickly, as if desperately trying to assure her that he was fine. “I just don’t know where my phone is to tell everyone I’m okay, and I don’t remember their numbers.”

“And why are you not with them? Why would you need to call them?” If Keith wanted him there, Lance was so glad that he could actually hear this conversation and not just Keith’s side of it.

“Okay, um, well, technically to them I’m probably a missing person? But I’m okay? I don’t really know where I am, or what happened last night, but I’m not in any danger.”

“Excuse me? You don’t know what happened?” Oh, Lance knew that voice. He had heard it from his parents many times.

“I…don’t remember anything from last night?” Keith’s voice rose unsurely.

“I mean, you remember some,” Lance pointed out to him, forgetting that he was close enough for Keith’s mother to hear him.

“Who was _that_?” She instantly demanded, and Lance was kind of glad that she was pretty far from there, because she sounded _pissed_.

“Uhh…well…about that…”

“Keith Akira Kogane.”

“He’s my mate?” Keith actually squeaked out.

There was a very long silence; so long that Lance was worried the connection had failed. Then Keith’s mother said, “I’m sorry, it sounded like you just said that you, my Omega son who has not courted anyone in years, had a mate after saying that you have no idea what happened last night.”

Keith was silent in return. Lance was going to try to reassure him, but then the Omega just started _babbling_. “So apparently coming here was actually a ploy for Lotor to like kidnap me and mark me, and Acxa signed papers to give him permission to mark me because you know she’s basically my keeper now. Allura tried to get me out of there, but Lotor came looking for me, and I ran into another Alpha and got him to hide me, and then I hung out with him and his friends because Lotor was probably going to be waiting back at my hotel room and honestly fuck that no. At some point of time I—no—both of us got super drunk? And we had a legal bonding ceremony?”

Holy shit. Lance was learning all kind of new things right now. Apparently once he got going, Keith shared _everything_.

“Please tell me that you didn’t bite each other or have sex.”

“Okay.”

“Oh my god, Keith! I’m coming to Vegas. Are you _sure_ you’re okay? You’re safe? I know he’s sitting there with you! Can he hear me? I—“

“Mom,” Keith interrupted quickly. “His name is Lance.” He looked towards him. “And he actually seems like a really nice person. I mean, we’ve been talking for an hour or so now and he’s way better than Lotor.” He looked away. “I swear, I’m _not_ in any danger. Not from Lance. Don’t waste your money on coming down here. I’m okay. I’ll be back in a few days.”

“Will you?” she asked. “Will _your mate_ let you?”

Once again, Keith’s eyes turned to Lance. He was about to reassure him that, hell yes Keith could go wherever he wanted. They needed to figure something out, but he had no intention of taking Keith from his family. Before he could say anything though, Keith said, “Yeah. He told me he wasn’t going to make me do anything I didn’t want to do, and I believe him.”

“Yet, neither of you remember anything.”

“He says he doesn’t normally do things like this, that he’s never blacked out before. And he’s a really shitty liar.” Keith looked at him unapologetically. “So no, I’m not with someone who does shit like this.”

“And neither do you.” Her voice got quiet, and Lance could no longer hear what she was saying.

Keith’s shoulders tensed. “Why would I need to go to the hospital?” He suddenly looked towards Lance with startled eyes, and then looked a bit offended. “Lance didn’t drug me!”

Oh. His mother thought that Lance had slipped something into his drink. That was terrible. Though there was something nice about the fact that Keith clearly did trust him to the point where he’d defend him against his mother. He wasn’t wrong.

That didn’t stop him from saying, “I have never done any drugs in my life! I was offered a joint once and I thought of my Abulea’s disappointed stare and couldn’t go through with it.” He paused, some of the pieces starting to click together in his mind. Why would he or Keith have gotten so brazenly drunk with Lotor on the prowl? At the very least, Lance would have wanted to make a good impression on the Omega. No, something wasn’t adding up here. Even at his most depressed after his breakup, he hadn’t resorted to extreme drinking. Why would he now? “But that doesn’t mean that someone _else_ didn’t try to drug you, and if I drank anything that was given to you too…”

Whatever Keith’s mother was saying didn’t seem to register to the young man anymore. He was staring at Lance with sheer surprise, the puzzle clicking together for him too. The surprise made way to anger, and god, did Keith look like he was about to break the phone in half. “Mom, stop. We’ll go to the hospital. Yes, Lance too. We think someone tried to drug me, but ended up getting both of us. Do you think you can use the find my phone app to…find my phone? So we can find that too and get a hold of Shiro.”

Despite how suddenly stressed he was, Lance still snorted at that, earning a glare. “Shut up. No! Not you, mom. I meant Lance. No, you cannot talk to him right now. Later, after everything’s sorted out. Arus Fries? I don’t remember going there. Yes, mom, I’m okay. I just wanted someone to know that I wasn’t abducted or anything. I’m going to find my phone and get a hold of Shiro, okay? Yes. Yes mother. Yes Krolia. Okay. Yes, I’ll text you when I get my phone back. I—pictures? I mean, if you need for me to prove it’s me…of Lance? Why? No! Mom! I’m going now! Okay! Okay. Mother. Bye.” Keith hug up, his face burning red.

“Well, the end of that sounded interesting.”

“Shut up,” Keith replied with a groan, lifting the cushion from the couch and slapping him with it. “She said she wants a picture of you to see what you look like.” He looked up at him almost slyly.

Lance blinked a few times at that, and couldn’t stop himself from winking. “I mean, I _am_ pretty attractive between you and me. Might as well show me off, right?” He wiggled his eyebrows at him, and Keith snorted. “So, before we get to the serious elephant in the room, you…weren’t actually courting someone else? Weren’t interested in someone else?”

“No,” Keith assured him, and then look curious. “Were you?”

“No,” Lance replied. Well, at least it was nothing like what happened with his cousin at all. “So, the whole drug thing makes sense. All things considered. But I wouldn’t have done that. I swear it.”

“It might be stupid of me, but I believe you.” Keith stared at him seriously. “I trust my gut, and I think you’re a good person.” He narrowed his eyes. “Don’t prove me wrong.”

“I swear, if I do anything otherwise, you can take me out however you want.”

“You say that now, but I’m always armed.” Lance blinked at that, looking Keith up and down and not seeing any type of weapon at all. He glanced at the Omega, who just looked smug. Lance chose to believe him; it was probably safer. All he had to do was _not_ at like a total douchebag. He could do that. He hoped. If Pidge were here, she’d probably be laughing at him.

Lance cleared his throat. “So, Arus Fries? I wonder if they have a map down in the lobby so that we can figure out where we are and where that is?”

“Our wallets might be down there too,” Keith pointed out.

“Right!” Lance perked up. He searched around, finding the cardkey for the hotel room. Hey, they technically had this room for the weekend. Lance wasn’t sure if he’d come back, since none of his stuff was here, but it would be nice to have somewhere to come back to if their search turned up nothing. He held the door open. “Coming?”

Keith set his face into a stern look of determination. “Let’s do this.”

…

Keith had thought that the Marmora was a beautiful hotel when he first walked into it. Of course, they were there for Lotor’s birthday party, it’s not like they were going to be put up in cheap hotels.

Still, it felt cheap compared to this place. Maybe Keith just preferred the décor in this hotel, he had never really thought about it before, going for comfort over design in his room, but this place outshined the Marmora.

They walked towards the front desk, where a tall woman was working. She finished serving one other person before turning towards them. As she did, a wide smile appeared on her face. “Well, welcome back.”

Keith blinked, not expecting that at all. “You recognize us?” He subtly inhaled, instantly assaulted by a strong cinnamon scent. Definitely an Alpha.

She was taller than both him and Lance, easily able to look him up and down. “How could I forget _you_?”

Of course people were still hitting on him, even though he was mated. He knew that, technically, his underlying scent would also have a tint of Lance’s to him, enough for people to pick out that he was an Omega claimed by someone else, in this case, an Alpha. It was harder to tell when someone was claimed by a Beta, because their scents were much more subtle. A part of him had been hoping that being mated would mean less attention.

One bonus was instantly made clear. Lance tensed up, a very light growl that Keith had to strain to hear escaping him as he stepped forward, shifting just slightly in front of him. Keith was slightly annoyed by this, he could take care of himself, but it was also kind of nice to have someone else genuinely stand up for him. Yes, he had Shiro and Allura, but this was something else.

Maybe that was just his Omega-brain talking though. Keith had kind of assumed that if he ended up with anyone by his own violation, that they would be a Beta. Both of his past relationships had been with Betas, and the one time an Alpha had been involved had turned out very, very bad. He didn’t even count Lotor, because Lotor didn’t count at all in the category of relationships. He was firmly listed as ‘creepy stalker’ in Keith’s mind.

“He asked you if you recognized us,” Lance said, clearly unimpressed by how she had completely ignored Keith’s question, even though she apparently knew who they were.

The female Alpha actually looked properly ashamed. Good. Even if Lance _wasn’t_ his mate, he wouldn’t have been interested in her. He very much preferred men.

“Sorry,” she said. “He’s just so pretty and smells so good, but I know he’s off the market.” She cleared her throat. “I was here when you came in from the chapel. This establishment hosted your bonding ceremony last night.”

“Huh.” Lance narrowed his eyes slightly. “Yeah, we found the certificate upstairs. But I don’t suppose either of our wallets ended up here? We can’t seem to locate either of them, and we know we had to have them here for it to be legit. If it is.”

She looked almost offended. “I can assure you, all bonding ceremonies that happen here are a hundred percent legal and binding. We even use the online registration system so that it’s official within the hour of the ceremony. It’s part of our guarantee here.”

Keith raised an eyebrow at that. She sounded genuinely annoyed at Lance’s questioning. What kind of front desk employee had _that_ kind of loyalty to a business these days?

Her shoulders relaxed and she started looking around the desk. “Aha! Here they are.” She slid their wallets to them. If you’re wondering, you paid for the bonding ceremony, but after every ceremony, we allow couples to draw for one of the honeymoon suite if they are available. You got lucky and won.”

Lance nodded his head. “So, did you happen to hear us say anything about being somewhere else before here? Because we were really drunk and aren’t quite sure where our friends ended up.”

She raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow at her, a smirk spreading across her lips as she quickly glanced at Keith again. “Ah, I see. Get him drunk to snag him. That’s smart. But no, you didn’t.”

Keith bristled silently at that, biting the inside of his cheek to keep himself quiet. She was giving them answers, he didn’t want to blow that. Patience yields focus. Shiro would be so proud of him.

Lance full-on glared at the woman. “Can we get a map?”

“Of course.” She must have caught on to how her statement annoyed them both. She handed Lance a map and then sighed. “For what it’s worth, you kept saying you wanted him to give you the ‘most romantic bonding ceremony you could’.” Her expression softened. “All our ceremonies are recorded as well. It’ll be finished and mailed out to your address when it’s done. I passed by and heard some of the things you said though. It seemed really sweet.”

Keith didn’t know what to think of that. He simply nodded his head and Lance thanked her. He started slightly when Lance’s arm slid across his shoulders, looking over at him to see the Alpha’s brow furrowed. It was entirely an unconscious gesture, and Keith’s first instinct was to push him off. It wasn’t hurting anything though, and Keith was honestly feeling a bit skittish. Every day was getting closer to his heat, and he always found that he had a little less fight to him when it came closer. He tended to ignore more problems than normal.

They walked through the lobby, heading back up to their room. Lance fumbled with the keycard before managing to get it to work.

Spreading the map out, they were greeted with the layout of Vegas. The Olkarion was highlighted, which made sense, since the map came from them.

They were able to pinpoint the places they remembered being. Lance had apparently been staying at the Altea, which wasn’t far from the Oriande. Marmora was a bit farther away. They were also able to find the Arus Fries that matched the address Keith’s mother gave him.

“Look at us, working together on a paper map like a real couple,” Lance joked. “Now that I think about it, we have hoverbikes, holograms, and tiny tablets, why are we still using _paper_ maps?”

Keith scrunched his nose slightly. He actually preferred using paper, and that _wasn’t_ at all because it was actually easier to hide all his research (Bigfoot existed and he was going to prove it), since Acxa could access all his computer-based stuff. He chose to keep that to himself. Lance didn’t need to know about _that_ yet.

Not at all put off by Keith’s lack of reply, he said, “Okay so Oriande is pretty far from Arus Fries and pretty far from here, so how the hell did we end up in this area?” He looked up at Keith, those mesmerizing blue eyes locking onto his. “Wanna go get some fries and your phone? Maybe your jacket will be there too, I remember having one, and you definitely had one because leather jackets are hot as hell. I dunno about you, but I’d like mine back.”

Keith nodded his head. “Yeah. I’d actually like to make sure Shiro and Allura are okay. I can get Acxa not calling mom, but Shiro? That worries me a bit.” He knew his brother, and he knew Allura too. They would be looking for him everywhere if they could. Though, to be fair, it was only nearing lunch time now and hungover Shiro rarely woke up before noon.

Lance’s expression softened. “Hey, uh, again. I’m sorry about what happened. I know this sucks but I really think we might be able to try and work something out?”

Keith looked towards him, taking in Lance’s slumped shoulders and frown. “Look, I was going to end up with a mate on this trip no matter what happened. Lotor wasn’t going to let me go easily. Not after ‘losing’ Allura to Shiro.” Lance raised an eyebrow at that. “I don’t know how, but I _know_ that if we were drugged, it was because of him. It sounds exactly like something he’d do. Drug me, try to take me back with him.”

When he woke up that morning, there had been a thrill of terror rushing through him along with a pounding headache. He didn’t recognize the room he was in, but it was really nice. A really rich kind of nice. Allura might have had money for that kind of place, but that didn’t make any sense.

He had instantly noted the fact that his neck hurt horribly – his _scent gland_ hurt horribly. He hadn’t even moved as he felt a telltale ache between his legs, though it had been worse than he experienced during his past relationships, telling him that he was probably in bed with an Alpha and not a Beta.

For a terrifying moment, he had kept his eyes closed and stayed completely still, like he had been playing dead. His first thought was that Lotor had found him. Lotor had done this to him.

Then Lance had launched himself from the bed and proceeded to puke, and Keith realized very quickly that he had no idea who Lance was, but he definitely was _not_ Lotor. It was why he hadn’t immediately gone for his knife, why he hadn’t run off.

He didn’t know Lance. He didn’t know how this was going to work, but there was one thing he did know without any hesitation. “I’m glad it was you, and not him.”

Lance’s eyes went wide, his cheeks turning an attractive pink. He shuffled slightly before saying, “Well, for what it’s worth, if this had to happen, you seem like a pretty awesome person for it to happen with.”

Keith couldn’t stop himself from laughing at that. He couldn’t remember the last time that he had laughed this hard, this genuine. It wasn’t even _funny_ , but hell, he really needed to laugh. He realized a moment later that Lance was laughing with him.

“Right,” Keith managed to get out through his amusement. “Are we trying the buses? Or a cab?”

He looked at the map. “Well, that’s actually pretty close, and we’re in a pretty safe place. We can walk to Arus Fries, and see where we go from there?” In the blink of an eye, Lance turned almost shy. “We can treat it like a first date, if you want. You know, going to explore? I mean, we did things totally backwards, but we can work with it, right? While we travel, we can play 20 questions.”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“I don’t see you coming up with anything else.” The defensive, competitive tone wasn’t lost on Keith, and damn if he didn’t rise to meet it, knowing that Lance wasn’t going to actually hurt him or anything.

“Alright.” Keith reached out, holding his hand out towards Lance. The Alpha looked confused for a moment, before grinning slightly and reaching forward to take his hand.

Making sure that they both had their wallets securely on their person, and that they had the map, the two set off from the Olkarion, intending on figuring out exactly what had happened the night before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be clear, Lance and Keith aren't nearly as antagonistic towards one another off the bat here because there's no reason for them to be. Well, I mean, there is, but it'll just make things worse. They're also OLDER than in canon - so it's more like dealing with the slightly more chill Keith we get in S6. Without that 'rivalry' nonsense, they're civil with one another from the start. 
> 
> Also, if you notice in the tags, there is nothing 'slow burn' about this. 
> 
> Thank you for all the wonderful feedback! And if there's anything you're curious about, or you wanna chat in a different way, you can [check out my tumblr](https://storiesbeyondthestars.tumblr.com/) too!


	4. Twenty Questions

Keith was sixteen when he experienced his first relationship. It had been a bit awkward, this nice Beta boy shyly giving him gifts and offering to help him with his homework. By that point, Keith had been experiencing heats for three years, and had been firmly made aware of what it meant to be courted and to court others.

That boy had been cute and kind, so Keith had given him a shot. Their very first date and been a very awkward movie one, but it had led to more of them, so who cared if it was awkward? That had been a nice relationship that had hadn’t ended _badly_ per se, but just as awkwardly as it began. Keith got that people were growing up and learning about themselves and that they all had different interests and stuff. He would have probably been able to deal with a bit of normal experimenting, because hey, apparently sex was fun. Sex in a graveyard though? That was weird. Really wanting to get off on your _grandmother’s_ grave? Keith had bailed out of that _very_ quickly, and never spoke of it again. If anyone bothered to ask, he would simply say that it didn’t work out, nothing big.

His second relationship had been a little different. Yeah, the guy, another Beta, had tried the typical courting stuff a bit, but their first date (another movie date, because they were _teenagers_ , no one expected them to go to fancy places or to be perfect suave or anything) came _after_ their first hookup. That relationship had genuinely ended amicably, both simply wanting different things and agreeing to go both ways.

Keith didn’t like to think about the third almost-relationship he had. He didn’t want to bring that into this comparison, because everything was just a set up to try and mark him. In a way though, that guy had given him the ability to pick up Lotor’s bullshit within seconds of meeting him.

Needless to say, Keith didn’t have a good track record with Alphas. He knew that they weren’t all bad, he could still remember how much his father had adored his mother, how much he had respected her. Keith didn’t think he was being too picky to want that. He didn’t want to simply be seen as a walking uterus.

Maybe that was why he found himself so easily connecting to Lance. Obviously, he was painfully attractive. Keith’s poor gay heart never let him forget that. He could see how Lance could be seen as a bit annoying, he had been rambling on since they left the hotel, but Keith could deal with that. He didn’t need perfect, he just needed someone who treated him like a _person_.

As they ended up at the wrong street corner once again, Keith snarkily thought that he could also use an Alpha with a sense of direction.

“I told you we were supposed to go left back there,” Keith noted.

“We _did_ go left.”

“My left, not _your_ left.”

“They were the same left!”

“We were facing opposite directions!”

A few people moved around them, pointedly ignoring Keith’s crossed arms and the way Lance’s hands were thrown dramatically into the air.

Keith kept up his unimpressed look, because he was unimpressed, but his traitor mind pointed out that if _this_ was the type of disagreements they had, he could really deal with that.

Lance lowered his arms with a dramatic sigh and pulled the map out of his deep pockets. He looked at it, narrowing his eyes slightly as he muttered, tracing his finger along the route they had planned to take.

He glanced at Keith. He glanced back at the map, his cheeks pink. He muttered under his breath and they turned around, heading back in the direction that Keith had said they should go earlier. The Omega tried not to look smug, but, well, sometimes things happened.

They walked silently, despite Lance’s suggestion of playing 20 questions. Keith was actually kind of curious and eager to play that, but he was okay with silence for now. It let him get his thoughts together.

Bits and pieces of his memory were starting to come back, though he doubted the entire thing would. In reality, this was almost a nightmare scenario for most Omegas. He had read online discussions about how someone had been forced to take off their collar and was marked. How someone was drugged and marked by strangers or people they wanted nothing to do with.

A part of him had honestly thought that Lotor would win. He had also seen others online, of all dynamics, telling those who were complaining of similar stalking to just submit and be happy someone wanted them. It was the natural order of things.

Keith didn’t believe that at all, he had no intention of just giving in to Lotor, rejecting him at every advance. He knew that Lotor’s interest in him stemmed from Allura and Shiro, but he was also pretty sure that it was a matter of pride now. Lotor would not be rejected by a second Omega. 

 It was why Keith had started to assume, to fear, that the brutal Alpha would get tired of the rejection. Lotor had been sweet and manipulative with Allura, but he knew he couldn’t do that with Keith, he’d see right through it _because_ he knew what happened. It only led to Lotor being more aggressive with him. He knew that Lotor knew he wanted nothing to do with him, but it didn’t deter the Alpha at all. He also knew that Lotor was going to snap at some point. That he was going to get sick of the rejection, and Keith would end up being one of those stories that were whispered as what Omegas didn’t want to be, raped and claimed. Though most would probably just say that Lotor was rich, powerful, and handsome, so he should shut up and just take it (much like Ezor had said the night before).

Part of this terror is why he always kept a weapon on him. Why Shiro had started sparring with him more and more. Why he was always on edge. Shiro had been more than willing to help him however he could.

At first, so had Acxa. She hadn’t known who it was that was stalking Keith, and was just as protective, making sure he had all the tools he needed to protect himself. Then she found out and everything changed.

No, that wasn’t true. She had started working for Daizabaal first, and _then_ the shift in attitude came. He had never thought about that before. He couldn’t help but wonder, perhaps hope, that Lotor was blackmailing her somehow.

That sounded horrible, but it meant that his twin, the one that had been with him during the worst point of their lives when they were forced into a foster home with him after their father had died and their mother was deemed unfit to raise them, hadn’t just betrayed him.

As twisted and weird as it was, Lance was like a solution to his worries and fears. Already, he felt like he was _lucky_. It was selfish, because he felt bad that Lance had mated with him, and was relieved that he hadn’t been courting or dating someone else. Keith never wanted to be _that_ person.

He looked up, tensing a bit as a tall Alpha brushed by him on the busy sidewalk. The man cast a glance at Keith, and then he simply looked away. Keith blinked several times at that. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been walking around, almost bumped into an Alpha, and _hadn’t_ been hit on.

Huh, maybe this whole mate thing also had other upsides, though it didn’t stop the woman working at the hotel. Maybe the more he was exposed to Lance, the less likely people were to harass him. He was very clearly off-limits. He liked that.

Now that he was thinking about it, it felt freeing in a way Keith never would have guessed. Not that he was saying an Omega that _really_ didn’t want to be in a relationship had to find a mate, hell no, he’d never tell anyone that. It was just amazing to know that, technically, he was permanently out of Lotor’s grasp. The law would absolutely be on his side about this whole thing (well, Lance’s side, but whatever).

Keith always thought that he’d be fine being alone, that it would be better than being some Alpha’s bitch. Not that he was discounting Betas, but as he got older, he found that Alphas tended to scare them away from him more often than not. It was _really_ annoying.

Here he was though. A fresh mark on his neck, trying to put the pieces together how that had come about, and not freaking out as much as he should have been.

His eyes turned towards Lance as the Alpha reached back and grabbed his hand. It took Keith a moment to realize that they were about to go through a busy crowd, and this was just so they wouldn’t get separated. He didn’t mind it though.

A pang of guilt hit him. He hadn’t told Lance about something very important. Hadn’t told him that his heat was coming dangerously close. Close to the point where there was a chance he was already ovulating, since that was possible anywhere from three to five days prior to heats, which were almost a body’s last ditch attempt to create a baby. That was likely the reason Lotor chose this time to strike (along with it being believably close to his birthday), which was even sketchier, because it meant that he _knew_ his heat cycle, and yeah, Keith was regular, but still, it was super creepy. At this point, it was harder to get pregnant, but not _impossible_.

Normally this point of time didn’t matter to Omegas since suppressants had very mild contraceptives in them (that were useless during heats but fine for that time before them), but Keith couldn’t take any kind of medication due to his allergies, and he legally wasn’t allowed to get actual birth control or anything without an Alpha’s permission. Shit, places wouldn’t even sell him _condoms_ unless he managed to hide the fact that he was an Omega.

His mother had asked him about it when Lance couldn’t hear her. She knew her son’s cycle too, and she was worried.

Keith was also pretty damn sure that Lance had knotted him. It was the only thing that made sense with the pains he had felt after waking up. He’d had sex before, but the one time there had been an Alpha involved, that sure as hell hadn’t happened because Keith had shut that shit down as soon as he realized what that asshole really wanted.

Maybe Keith should have said something. Should have said ‘hey Lance, by the way, there’s a chance you could have knocked me up last night’ or something to that effect, but he didn’t want to. He didn’t want to freak Lance out, because he _doubted_ it would happen. He also still felt like his heat was coming, and if he was pregnant, that would have stopped, right? Well, he knew how things worked so it might not have happened yet but still.

Oh god, if he did go through his heat, he was going to be _miserable_. He was going to want Lance with him, but by that point they’d both be back home. He’d turn into the pathetic, whiney, useless creature he tried (pretty successfully up to that point) not to be. And if Lance ever went into a rut, he could actually become _dangerous_ without Keith there, no matter how good his control actually was.

Okay, he _needed_ to get out of his head. Needed to talk about something. He squeezed Lance’s hand slightly, prompting the man to look at him. “I thought we were going to play 20 Questions?”

“Yeah, I just wanted to figure out where we were going first,” Lance admitted. He chuckled nervously. “I tend to get a bit distracted when more than one thing is happening. But how do you want to do this? Each ask 20 questions? Or make ten questions each that we _both_ have to answer?”

“The second one,” Keith decided. He wasn’t very good at these types of things. He looked towards the cheerful, blue sky thoughtfully. “I told you I live in northern Nevada, so that’s my answer to the question, but where do you live?”

Lance grimaced slightly at that. “Florida.”

Something twisted inside of Keith. “Oh. That’s…really far away.” He didn’t quite know what to make of that.

“It is,” Lance agreed, sounding just as wary as Keith felt. He perked up slightly before saying, “So what do you do for a living anyway? I graduated a few months ago, and I get to work at this marine institute at home that helps injured and sick animals. It’s pretty awesome.”

Keith couldn’t help but smile at that. He could just tell by the way Lance lit up that he really liked marine biology. He couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous. “Honestly? I tried online courses, but I didn’t like anything that I was allowed to take. I’m pretty good at research and numbers and stuff, so I work sort of as a bookkeeper and treasurer for my brother, who has his own PI business. Not that he needs it. _Legally_ he now owns the company Allura inherited, but everyone knows she runs it. He likes his little business and overpays me horribly for what I do. Not to mention I know he’s just trying to…appease me by not just giving me the money. I’d rather do _something_ for it.” Keith flushed slightly. “I tried to work in retail, but I threw an ice-coffee at a Beta that hit on me, so I never went back.”

Lance snorted a bit at that. “That’s actually really funny. Alright, lay your next question on me.”

He hummed thoughtfully. “Well, you know about my family already. I have my older half-brother, Takaishi Shirogane, though we just call him Shiro, and his mate, Allura. He’s a Beta, she’s an Omega. They’re both awesome. Then there’s Acxa, my twin, and her annoying mate name Ezor. Acxa’s an Alpha, Ezor’s a Beta. My family doesn’t care about ‘you need to be with this specific dynamic’ or anything like that. There’s also my mother, Krolia. She is ten types of badass. My father, Ryou, died quite a while ago though. So my question: what’s your family like?”

Lance launched into this long answer that gushed with familial closeness. He went over aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins and so much more. He positively preened when he spoke of his parents, grandparents, siblings, nieces and nephews.

“…Honestly my Papá’s going to be _so_ mad at me for this situation. My family doesn’t _do_ this.”

Keith couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’ll protect you.”

Lance lit up. “Yeah? You’ll be my knight in shining armour.”

“How about knight in a leather jacket?”

“That’s hotter, we’ll go with that,” Lance agreed eagerly. It was only now that Keith realized they had slowed down from their brisk walk, meandering a little more, still holding hands. It actually didn’t bother him, as weird as that was. “Okay, so what about your pet peeve? Something that really gets your goat.”

“Uh, I’ll make you a list,” Keith said, earning a snort. “I have a bit of a temper. But I guess mine is when people _keep_ picking on others for no apparent reason. I mean, I tend to take on any challenge people give me – I used to be worse when I was younger – but I can’t help but get all riled up with needless, nasty teasing. I mean, if I wasn’t doing anything and someone just kept harping at me over something stupid, I’d get really mad.”

“Uh, sorry if I ever do anything like that?” Lance said, his voice rising in question.

“Don’t worry, you’ll know if you do.” Keith nudged him. “What about you?”

“Okay, well, maybe it’s stupid of me, but I’d say it’s those people who seem to be good at _everything_ effortlessly, and they don’t even seem to give a shit. I’ve met people like that and they really brush me the wrong way,” Lance admitted, sounding like he was getting riled up just thinking about it.

“You would have _hated_ high school me then,” Keith chuckled. He had been proud of his grades, and though he worked his ass off at home, at school he did nothing. “Hmm…where’s a place you’d like to visit?”

“Oh! Good question!” Lance’s eyes lit up again. “Definitely Cuba. I’ve been there before, but I have family there and that’s where I’m from, so I’d love to go back. How about you?”

“I’ve always like archeology and history,” Keith said, perking up at the thought. “So maybe different places like Egypt. Though I like stars and astronomy a lot too so just a cabin in the woods somewhere, away from lights and stuff, would be awesome.”

“I’m making mental notes.” Lance said, wiggling his eyebrows slightly. Keith couldn’t help but flush a bit at that. “Okay, how about…something that freaks you out.” Maybe he saw Keith hesitating, because he quickly said, “For me, it’s small spaces. Holy fuck, do I hate crawlspaces and stuff. I get all panicky.”

“Oh.” Keith couldn’t help but feel a bit silly, but was glad that he didn’t need to go into any super deep fears right now. “Pitch black places and rooms.”

“But, you _just_ said that you wanted to go somewhere without lights and stuff!”

“We could have a campfire, Lance,” Keith argued back, earning a laugh. “Okay, I know you have your job and all, but if you could live anywhere, where would it be?”

“Definitely somewhere close to the ocean, and somewhere warm. I’m not built for the cold,” Lance admitted, starting to swing their arms back and forth a bit. “How ‘bout you?”

“…I never really thought about it,” Keith admitted sheepishly, having forgot that he had to answer the question too. “But you know, a warm place would be good. I’m _not_ a huge fan of the cold. And it’s more of a dry heat here, but I…I think I could use used to more humid places. I mean, I’ve never seen the ocean before, so that might be cool.”

Lance’s eyes widened comically? “You’ve never seen the ocean? That’s not my question! I just mean, sorry, I’m going back on my promise. I’m definitely kidnapping you and taking you with me to see the ocean. You can leave after that, but we’re seeing it.”

Keith snorted, feeling something warm well up within him. “We’ll see if I let you kidnap me or not.” Did he mean to come across that flirty? Eh, it didn’t really matter. “So what _is_ your question then?”

“It’s a _super_ telling and difficult one to answer, the hardest question of all time.” Lance’s eyes twinkled mischievously. “Favourite subject in school? Answer carefully.”

“Same time?”

“Bet. Count of three. One. Two. Three! Astronomy!”

“Astronomy.”

They blinked at one another before laughing a bit. Lance shook his head. “Should have known. You said you liked the stars. Cool that both of our schools had that.”

“Yeah, I mean, how can you not like the stars?” 

“Is that your question?”

“No!” Keith yelped, feeling almost possessive over the amount of questions he had. If he was thinking correctly, they were at nine right now. “My question is – uh – things you do for fun? Like, hobbies?” He thought about that for a moment before his eyes widened. “Wait, no!”

“Too late! I am all about personal care and hygiene. People tell me that I preen and pluck like an Omega, but you know what? I don’t care. I love me some face masks, spa time and bath bombs. Oh, swimming is the best thing ever, and I also love boating. I guess I like sewing too. It’s pretty relaxing.” He raised an eyebrow. “What about you? I get the feeling you didn’t want to answer.”

Keith’s cheeks flushed. He could lie, but he really didn’t want to. “I really like researching things like myths, legends, monster stories, things like that. Um, stargazing. Creepy stories and videos are awesome too. I actually really love ghost hunting or monster hunting shows. Sometimes I think it’d even be fun to do like an amateur series on youtube.”

“Oh my god, Pidge and Matt are going to _love_ you. They’re totally into that type of stuff and Pidge has been nagging us to go out cryptid hunting with her for just about ever.” Lance smiled at him so affectionately that Keith momentarily felt like his heart had leapt out of his body. He practically bounced on the heels of his feet. “Okay, okay. What’s the most useless thing you know how to do? I can make my fingers do this.” He moved his fingers, and Keith watched as they bent in different ways.

“That’s gross!” He pushed the hand away from him.

“Is it though?” Lance wiggled his eyebrows again, and Keith quickly caught onto his meaning.

Now is mind was going to dirty places he did not need it to go, because he was not wearing one of the suppressant strips and he did _not_ need to think about how awesome that would feel. Nope, not now hormones. Kindly fuck right off. “Um, I don’t…know? I mean, I can—no, that’s useful. Um…I don’t really try to do things that aren’t worth my time? Oh!” His eyes went wide. “I can wiggle my ears.”

“No you can’t!” Lance burst out, sounding oddly excited. “Shut up!”

“I can!” Keith pushed his hair out of the way to show him.

“Oh my god! That is the best thing ever!” Lance laughed, but it wasn’t mocking or anything like that. It made Keith flush, but not in a bad way at all. The Alpha looked at him with wide eyes and a huge smile, and he couldn’t help but preen the tiniest bit. He couldn’t think of a single time someone had looked at him that way before, not even his past boyfriends. It did really funny things to his heart.

“Hmm.” Keith thought for a moment. “Oh! What’s your favourite animal?” He meant as a pet, but Lance answered before he could clarify it.

“Sharks are the coolest things ever, hands down. That’s what I specialize in.” Lance puffed up his chest proudly.

“I hate to tell people that their opinions are wrong, but your opinion is wrong. The coolest animal ever has to be a hippo.”

“A _hippo_?” Lance snorted. “Oh my god, that’s adorable!”

“They’re the deadliest animal in Africa.”

“Yeah, in Africa. Sharks are everywhere. You never know when one is going to come up to say hello!” Lance gently poked Keith’s side, causing him to jump a bit. They stopped walking and stared at one another for a moment as Lance processed what happened. Dread filled Keith when he could pinpoint the moment Lance realized that he was _ticklish_ right there. The Alpha didn’t say anything about it, but his smirk didn’t leave his face.

“Anyway, I actually meant like what would be your favourite animal as a pet,” Keith clarified, wanting to change the subject. “Does that count as a separate question?”

“Nah,” Lance said after some thought, shaking his head. “I’ve always wanted a giant, badass fish tank with loads of cool tropical fish. I mean, they take a lot of care, but marine biology is my thing. I’m always up for cuddly animals though. I like cats.”

“I’ve always wanted a dog,” Keith admitted. “Mom was willing to get one, but when we went looking we realized Acxa was allergic to them so we couldn’t get one.” He sighed mournfully.

“Well, we could get my badass fish tank, a cat, _and_ a dog,” Lance suggested eagerly. “Or start with the dog first. I’m down for lovable, huggable pets.”

Keith’s eyes widened at the implication. He doubted Lance even realized what he was doing, talking like they were going to get a place together or something.

That would be the logical thing to do though, wouldn’t it? They were _mates_. They could get somewhere just for them, get to know one another, get the pets that they wanted.

Get the family that Keith had secretly always wanted, but never allowed himself to truly think about.

That wasn’t normally how people worked, they usually tried to figure out if they actually liked one another, if they were at all compatible, but here they were, doing everything backwards.

Lance must have caught onto his nervousness, because he squeezed his hand gently and then started walking again, trying to keep things light and casual. “So, what’s a stupid but funny thing you’ve done in the past?”

Keith frowned at that, trying to think of something that might fit. “Uh, I’m not sure?”

“Okay, for example, I’m sure my future answer to this question is something that we’ll end up discovering I did yesterday, but in general, it was the time I tried to go cliff-diving, lost my trunks, and had to walk home naked.” Lance didn’t sound at all ashamed of this.

“You had to walk home naked?” Keith couldn’t keep his laughter out of his voice. “You didn’t even have a towel?”

“I did, but it ended up falling in the water and I couldn’t find that either,” Lance admitted. “So teen Lance, in all his newly discovered Alpha glory, had to walk home. A car of grannies nearly got into an accident.”

Keith laughed so hard at the mental image that he had to stop walking. Mind you, he had no idea what teen Lance looked like, but picturing this Lance was just as funny. He hadn’t even realized that he had leaned on him to laugh until he managed to calm down some.

“Okay then, giggles,” Lance poked his side lightly, earning a small smack on the arm in return, “what’s your story?”

“Uh, probably that time I threw a pillow at Shiro.” Keith made a face. “Well, I mean, I threw a pillow at him and, yeah, it ended up with me breaking a brand new car.”

“What the ever living—how?” Lance stared at Keith in pure awe.

“We don’t talk about specifics. Sorry. I made a vow with Shiro. We don’t break vows in our household,” Keith said seriously.

“I’m going to find out the rest of that story no matter what I do,” Lance said, his voice determined.

“Sure.” Keith rolled his eyes. “Um, oh, useful. What do you do when something stresses you out? Like what’s your reaction to it?”

“Oh, good question. Gotta know what we’re getting into.” Lance squinted in thought. “Okay, heads up, I tend to get grouchy and I don’t really think before I talk, so I get sarcastic. I don’t mean what I say, it just comes out, you know?”

“I get it,” Keith assured him. “Um, Shiro says I’m too emotional, so I tend to lose it, snap, or yell, and then feel really bad about it afterwards. We’ve been working hard at better coping techniques though.” He didn’t want to talk about the times when his anger got the best of him and he ended up punching walls and fracturing the bones in his fists.

“Noted,” Lance said with a nod. “What question are we on? Fourteen? I think it’s fourteen. Right. If you could change anything, what would it be? I’m talking big issues.”

“How Omegas are treated,” Keith said without hesitation. He knew it was selfish, that there were so many problems in the world, but he felt like a lot of them could be addressed by starting there.

“Okay, fair,” Lance agreed. “That was a bad question, because I feel the same way. My sister is actually working to get better legislation and stuff so yeah. It’s a good thing. Your question.”

Keith looked him over curiously. “What’s something people assume about you that’s not true?”

“You’re good at this game,” Lance decided. He looked up towards the sky, and frowned a bit. “Um, well, I always liked to flirt a lot. You know, silly pickup lines, compliments, and stuff? Somehow that got me the reputation as a player and a cheater. I can be flirty, but when I’m with someone, I am committed to them.” He scowled. “I’m not a playboy, or a cheater. Those rumours were why my first relationship ended, and cheating was why my last one did.”

Frowning a bit, Keith let go of Lance’s hand, instead placing it on his arm in what he _hoped_ was a comforting gesture. It worked for him when his mother did it. “I believe you, and if it’s any consolation…I’m kind of glad you were single?”

Lance blinked at him before laughing. “I guess that _is_ a good thing, considering the situation. Alright, what about you?”

Keith scowled. “People assuming that I’m playing hard to get when I really not interested.” He bit his lip. “The last time it _seemed_ like someone was interested in me, I decided I wasn’t, you know, ready. Like there was no courting or dating, he just wanted to—yeah. He kept saying I was a tease and that if I started something I had to finish it, even though I didn’t start _anything_. Lotor acts that way too.”

Lance frowned at that too, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Those people are stupid. No means no, no matter how far into any situation you are.” He bit his lip. “It’ll always mean no.”

Nodding his head, Keith urged him to keep walking. Now that he thought about it, he was pretty sure they had passed this bench before. Were they going in circles? “It’s your question.” He was the one that had asked, because they were trying to learn things about one another, and boundaries and pasts were important in that.

“Right. Can I kind of do a double one sort of like the pets and animals one?” Keith nodded. “Right, favourite food and any allergies. Garlic knots are the shit and I will actually fight you on that. I can’t eat peanuts though.”

“Garlic knots are good,” Keith agreed. “Not my favourite, but good.”

“Well shit, it’s a good thing we’re already bonded, or I think I’d whisk you off to a chapel just for that,” Lance joked with a wink.

Keith snorted. “I’m a huge fan of breakfast food. I could basically eat it all day long. I mean, if Shiro was here he’d say it was ramen noodles but that was a _phase_. It’s breakfast food. I’m also lactose intolerant, but like, I love cheese.”

“Milk and peanuts,” Lance said with a laugh. “Good god, we’re doing good. Two of the biggest allergies around.”

“As long as you’re not allergic to dogs,” Keith said seriously. “That would have been a deal breaker.”

“If I would have just suffered in silence?”

“Well, I guess that works too.”

The brunet shook his head. “Good god, you’re something. Alright. The worst purchase you’ve ever made. Mine was a blow horn.”

“What?” Keith asked incredulously.

“It has been used against me many times.”

“But why did you buy it?”

“For the same reason, I didn’t expect to be used on _me_ though.”

“I’m going to find a blow horn,” Keith decided, earning a whine. “Mine was part of a hoverbike, because they weren’t actually for a hoverbike. I’m an Omega, I’m not allowed to operate one. I do anyway, but you know, details.”

“Do I _want_ to know what you were doing with them? Were you making like – a fake ufo or something.” Keith looked up at him hesitantly. “Holy shit, you were! That’s amazing! Yeah, my friends are going to _love_ you. Maybe even more than me. What question was that? 17?”

“Yeah.” Keith thought for a moment. He wet his lips, deciding to go with one of the more serious ones that were drifting around his mind. “What did you originally want in a mate?”

Lance actually stopped walking. The Omega hoped that he hadn’t offended him in any way, but he just looked contemplative. “Can I think for a minute? What about you?”

Keith bit his lip, before nodding and saying, “Someone who respects me, and treats me like a person. I guess maybe someone that makes me laugh? Uh, someone who’s attractive? Closer to my height?” He paused, blinking with surprise at his own words. From everything he had seen so far, that absolutely described Lance. He didn’t really know what to think of that, because he was genuinely trying answer the question. “Shiro says that I could use someone who can talk me out of ridiculous ideas. Like…to be my stability.”

A warm smile appeared on Lance’s face. “Those things all sound great. I think I’ve always wanted someone who’s smart, and courageous. Someone who’s amazing inside and out. Someone who knows who they are, that makes _me_ want to be a better person.”

Unlike Lance, who was all soft smiles now, Keith couldn’t help but feel a bit bad. He looked down. “I’m sorry you got stuck with me.”

There was no answer at first, making Keith feel antsy. Then he heard a sound of disbelief and looked back up. Lance was staring at him with a soft expression that made his stomach twist. “I dunno about that. I like what I see so far.”

Keith really wished that he had his leather jacket. It had a collar that he could pop up to hide his face because it was being a traitorous ass and blushing so much. 

“On serious questions, you mentioned relationships and I did so like, um…past…partners? As in sex?” Lance quickly scrambled to answer his own question. “Not to judge, just, you know, setting the foundation. I’ve dated two girls before. A Beta when I was 16, and, well, another Alpha until about a year ago." He eyed Keith for a moment as if waiting for him to judge. There were certain stigmas around Alphas dating other Alphas, but it wasn't nearly as bad as Omegas dating other Omegas. When Keith said nothing, he continued. "Things didn’t work out obviously. Um, between them I kind of had a few flings but nothing permanently, and nothing after I broke up with her. I’m completely clean. Can even show you the tests.”

That actually was a little relieving to know. “I had two Beta boyfriends before.” Looks like they had something in common there with two actual relationships. “Like I said earlier, the last time I thought someone was interested in me, it turned out they just wanted to do…well…what Lotor wants. So yeah, I was never actually _with_ an Alpha before you.” Not willingly.

“And neither of us remember it,” Lance said with a sigh. “I’ll make it up to you.” He paused and suddenly looked horrified. “I mean, if you want me to. In the future. No pressure at all. Don’t have to do anything. We can go to opposite sides of the country and be good. Yeah. That.”

“Calm down, I know what you mean,” Keith said. “I get the last question, I guess?”

“I feel like this got mixed up somewhere, but sure.”

“Right.” Keith bit his lip, again, wanting a seriously one. He thought about his earlier worries, and had to force himself to not touch his stomach. “Do you want kids?”

A soft smile appeared on Lance’s face. “Yeah, I do. I love kids. My little cousins and niblings are amazing. But not right now. I mean, I would never force you—anyone, to do that until you were ready. But yes, some day.”

Keith took a deep breath. “You do realize we had unprotected sex, right?”

“…Okay yeah…but you’re not in heat and I’m not in a rut so that’s good. It’s not like I knotted you or anything.”

“Uh, well, I mean, you’re right and you’re wrong.” Keith looked at him unsurely. “I’m not in heat now, but it’s super close. I think Lotor planned that purposely. But um, yeah, it’s still, you know, _possible_. And you did—I mean, I _think_ you did…you know…” Keith made a wild motion with his hand that wasn’t really anything, his face so read that he felt like he was going to explode.

It took the Alpha a moment to understand, but when he did, his eyes widened. “Oh fuck. I did? That’s why you were in pain earlier! Shit, I’m sorry! I mean…so you wouldn’t be now, but you _could_ be…”  
  
“I doubt it,” Keith assured him. “I really do. I’m allergic to suppressants…why didn’t I mention that earlier…so I can’t take those and you’d have to give me permission for me to get any other kinds of medication.”

“I haven’t been in a relationship for a year, and no hook ups, so I stopped taking stuff,” Lance admitted. “I didn’t start again because I had no intention of, well, hooking up here. Um, but…I don’t know what to say.”

“It probably _won’t_ happen,” Keith said again, and he was being honest. “I just…I wasn’t going to say anything but I realized I should be honest about this and I tend to blurt things like this out. I’m close to my heat, but I don’t think it’s a problem just yet.”

“If you were though, how would you feel about it?” Lance asked almost hesitantly.

Keith crossed his arms in front of him. “Well, I’ve never…I’ve never been _opposed_ to it. I just thought that, in the end, the only scenario where I would end up having them was if I was _forced_ to.”

“I’ll never force you to do that.” Lance suddenly looked positively fierce. “And you know what, even if by some super stroke of bad luck and you get pregnant now, if you wanted to get an abortion, I’d sign off on that without any hesitation. Okay? Because you’re not—you’re not just your uterus. I don’t need to tell you that, but shit, so many people believe it. Fuck and breed. Makes me want to punch someone and I may argue but I’m not a violent guy, you know?” Lance took a deep breath.

Something inside of Keith snapped at that. It wasn’t a bad kind of snap. It was a good one. A very good one.

They had known one another for less than 24 hours, and could remember a few hours of it so far, but Keith decided then and there, that if Lance was okay with it, he would really like to be his mate. He didn’t mean pups and all that stuff right away, but maybe trying some form of dating and getting to know one another.

It made him feel warm inside in a way he hadn’t in a very long time, and as Keith gazed at Lance, he realized that this very well might be the best mistake that he had ever made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the awesome feedback! You guys are great! Keep in mind, there are some things that don't make sense yet, and they won't, because no one (but me) knows what happened. Don't worry, we're going to get answers.
> 
> I know, Lance and Keith are acting surprisingly casual in this situation, but this is a different universe, and this shit unfortunately happens and they both know it. Flipping out isn't going to help either of them. 
> 
> If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask!
> 
> I was also kind of thinking of doing this writing prompt thing from tumblr, bad things happen bingo (after I'm done this fic). What do you guys think? Should I at least try to give it a shot? It'd be different than planning out a story ahead of time like I've done for these four.


	5. Add A Bit Of Salt

Lance had been so engrossed by his conversation with Keith that he hadn’t really realized that they had been walking in circles, having gone by Arus Fries a couple times. Not that anyone could blame him. He was getting to know the Omega that he had bonded with while intoxicated.

Both the serious and silly things were very telling, but his mind was still reeling a bit over the last part. Keith was probably right, they were most likely fine, it was _possible_ but _rare_ for Omegas to become pregnant before they were actually in the direct pre-heat stages (the day or two before). Still, Lance hadn’t even _considered_ it, and it made him seem really stupid, _especially_ since Keith seemed to have thought it over quite a bit.

He would have though, because it would have impacted him directly. Not that Lance wouldn’t be there for him if he ever got pregnant. He was serious about doing whatever Keith needed him to do

One of the things that Veronica, his sister, was fighting for was an Omega’s rights over their own healthcare. An Omega couldn’t get suppressants without the note of a familial Alpha, or if one didn’t exist, some sort of Beta or Alpha advocate. They couldn’t get birth control without direct permission from their mate. They couldn’t do anything to prevent conception, or to terminate a pregnancy, even if it was an unhealthy one. Not without permission. It was beyond stupid. Tyrannical was the term Veronica used. He liked that one.

Keith didn’t seem perturbed or anything now, so maybe Lance had said the right thing for once. He tended to go off and say things that he didn’t mean.

The smell of grease and salt hit him, and even though it wasn’t yet lunchtime and they had eaten breakfast, he still felt his stomach growling. What could he say? He was a growing boy.

Okay, he was a fully-grown man, but he could pretend. Sometimes men still grew in their early 20s. He threw a charming smile at the Omega and said, “Would you like to join me in this fine establishment?”

Keith’s eyebrow raised as he stared at him through those thick eyelashes. “Taking me to a fine-dining place for our first date, huh?”

A startled laugh burst out of Lance. He hunched forward, keeping a hand on Keith’s broad shoulder to keep himself upright. He straightened up, body still shaking with chuckles as he winked at him. “Only the best for you.”

The two of them walked into the restaurant, which was a pretty standard place with tables, booths, and teenagers working the counters, trying to get as many hours in before they had to head back to school in September.

It wasn’t too busy right now, between the breakfast and lunch rushes no doubt, which was good for them. They approached the counter, Lance instinctively scanning the menu. “What do you want?”

Keith rolled his eyes again and looked at the teenage boy behind the counter. “Hey, I think I left my phone. Any chance it’s around somewhere?”

“It might be his entire jacket, actually,” Lance said, snapping out of his thoughts. The teenager looked up at him with wide eyes. “It was a black leather one, right?”

Keith nodded his head, his lips twitching with barely hidden amusement that Lance didn’t get when the cashier looked at him.

“I’ll go take a look out back,” the boy said, his face paling as his voice cracked loudly, and he quickly took off.

Lance blinked, watching him go. “What just happened?”

“I think he’s intimidated by you,” Keith supplied with a small shrug.

He couldn’t quite comprehend that. Yeah, he was an Alpha, but he was like, one of the least intimidating Alphas _ever_. His siblings made sure that he knew that. He hadn’t even done anything. He just looked at the kid!

He started a bit when Keith placed a hand on his arm to draw his attention. “It’s not your fault. Alphas tend to smell a little stronger after bonding, don’t they? That’s what I heard, at least.”

Oh, that was true. He made a face. “There’s no way I smell stronger than all this grease.”

This time, Keith was the one to let out a surprised laugh. “That’s what you choose to focus on?”

“Hey, I smell fantastic and not at all greasy. My Mamá told me so.”

At first, Keith looked like he was going to roll his eyes again, but then stopped, a smirk spreading across his lips as he looked at Lance. “Well, your mom wasn’t wrong.”

Lance felt his cheeks burn and it took everything he had not to let loose the whine that threatened to escape him. Already he was pretty much used to cranky Keith and annoyed Keith, but flirty Keith was new and he did not know how to deal with this yet.

Damn, he looked _so_ smug.

The employee came back, carrying a black jacket with him. Keith’s eyes lit up and he said, “Yeah, that’s mine.” He took it, instantly shrugging it on, and hell if that didn’t do funny things to Lance’s stomach. He was really hot, okay?

Clearing his throat, Lance said, “So, want anything?”

“Milkshake,” Keith said instantly before actually looking up at the menu.

Wait. “Didn’t you say you were lactose intolerant?”

“And?”

“Nope, nope, not doing that,” Lance said, looking at the employee. “Do not give him a milkshake.”

“Yes sir,” he squeaked out.

“I have pills for that,” Keith pointed out, sounding fairly irritable. That faded quickly though as he seemed to realize something. “…That are at my hotel room.”

Lance couldn’t stop the snort that left his throat, earning a glare from his mate. They ordered fries and drinks to pick at and went to a booth towards the back of the restaurant where they could talk without a hundred people overhearing them.

Keith put a straw in his drink, and grabbed his phone. He frowned a bit and said, “Battery’s almost dead.” He looked over his lock screen at the notifications that were there (and there were a lot). Keith stared at the phone blankly before setting it face down on the table and picking at his fries.

“Aren’t you going to look at them?” Lance asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yup,” he said with a nod, not touching the device yet. Maybe he was just working up the nerve to look at everything. Lance was nervous and anxious to see what was on his own phone wherever it was, so he kind of understood.

“Hey, we have the same kind of phone, so maybe we can use the find my phone app on yours to see where mine is.” Lance suggested, perking up slightly. Keith shrugged, sliding the phone across to him.

Lance ignored the messages, missed calls and voicemails that came from ‘Shito’, ‘Actual Princess’, ‘Evil Twin’, ‘Evil Twin’s Spouse’, and a number that wasn’t even saved on the phone. He found the app in Keith’s chaotic layout and logged into his own account. He wasn’t paying attention to Keith, who suddenly started shifting through his own pockets.

Relief washed over him when he found his phone. He read the name beside it, and said, “The White Lion Casino.” The funny thing was, Keith said those words at the exact same time as him. Lance looked up, staring at him with a raised eyebrow.

Keith placed a small bag on the table and pushed it towards Lance. Inside was a pile of chips from the White Lion Casino. Lance’s eyes roamed over the amount, and he flinched a bit.

“So, we were definitely there last night, and apparently had a pretty good time,” Keith said, brow furrowing. “I’m not sure if I remember that.”

“Well, we know our next stop. I wonder if they’ll still let us cash those chips,” Lance said thoughtfully. “It’d be a damn good bonding present, you know?”

Keith shook his head, but Lance could see his smile, so he took it as a victory. He took back his cellphone, scowling a bit at it. “My voicemail is full, there’s nearly a hundred text messages, and a ton of missed calls.”

“Please tell me the random number is Lotor,” Lance said, unable to hide the glee in his voice. “That’s such a damn power move, not even bothering to put him there with an insulting name.”

“It’s Lotor. Unfortunately, I do recognize it,” Keith admitted. “I’m going to see what Shiro and Allura said.”

“Don’t forget, you gotta text your mom.”

“Oh, right. I should do that before it dies.” Keith suddenly pointed the phone at Lance in a very telling way.

“What are you doing?” That was actually a dumb question, Lance knew exactly what he was doing. People weren’t sly when they were trying to take pictures.

“She wants a picture.”

“No, no.” Nope, he was not having that at all. He jumped up from his side of the booth and slid in beside Keith, throwing an arm around his shoulder, taking the phone from him with his free hand. “Smile.”

“Lance, I don’t take good pictures!” Keith glared at him, but didn’t try to grab the phone back.

“Right.” Lance snapped a few pictures. “Come on, we need one non-pouty one so it doesn’t look like I’m kidnapping you.”

Keith sighed, head lolling slightly on Lance’s shoulder in defeat before he straightened up a bit and managed to smile at the camera. Lance stared at the picture, his stomach twisting. God, it was actually a beautiful image, and hell if they didn’t look like a normal couple.

He flipped through a few pictures and stopped at one with him and Keith looking at one another. It was one of the ones he happened to get by sheer chance, and it was even better than the staged one. They were staring at one another, Lance with a teasing smile, Keith with a look that was both annoyed and soft.

“I’m sending these to myself,” Lance declared, quickly bringing up the messaging app. Keith didn’t stop him, just watched as he put in his phone number and sent the images to himself. He handed his phone back over and asked, “Do I get a nickname?”

“Maybe.” Keith tapped a few buttons on his phone, maybe messaging his mother, but hopefully also saving Lance’s number.

Lance ate his wonderfully greasy fries, piling them with ketchup, watching as Keith looked over his messages.

“Okay, so Shiro was definitely really drunk. I actually told him that I was going with some friends and was safe and he said okay, so there’s that. Not that he texted me much after I left.” Keith looked at a few more, frowning a bit. “I was texting normally when we left the Oriande and when we got to White Lion Casino, but it looks like when we were leaving there, I was barely coherent. Not that anyone was answering me back.”

Lance watched as his cheeks flushed darkly. He nudged him under the table. “What? Come on. Share.”

“I was talking about you and—“ He flushed and handed his phone over.

Lance scrolled down, amused, flustered, and a bit excited to see that Keith had been gushing about him, saying how he was super nice, how he was hot. His face turned red when he saw one of the later messages that proudly claimed Keith wouldn’t mind being knotted by him. Dear god. On one hand, apparently sober Keith had liked him anyway. On the other, Keith had sent that shit to his _brother_.

His brother who had stopped responding very early on and hadn’t said anything since. That was good, because it meant that he hadn’t seen this. In theory, they could find the phone and delete all the evidence. Though it was also kind of alarming that his brother hadn’t responded to him after Keith essentially went missing.

He blinked when he saw the last message on the screen. “Hey, did you see this? It says ‘wtf, Lotor is here’. It’s the last coherent one you sent.”

“I did see that,” Keith agreed, taking the phone back, probably glad that Lance didn’t go on about his gushing. “But it’s not, there’s one last one.” He scrolled a little more. “It says ‘guess who’s getting am ate’. So we can pinpoint when that happened.” It actually wasn’t _that_ long after they seemed to have left the White Lion. What the hell had happened there?

“Well, he’s going to kill me.”

“But he didn’t answer back,” Keith pointed out with a frown. “That’s not like Shiro. He’s a bit of a worrier. And Allura texted a lot too but…” He trailed off, brow furrowing before his skin went pale. “Oh god, she was freaking right out and thought Lotor kidnapped me, and Shiro was really, really drunk, so she was worried about that too.”

“Text or call her,” Lance urged.

“I don’t think I can deal with her freaking out at me. Allura’s scary at times.” He held up the phone, taking a selfie to show that it was actually him and sent off a message. “My phone’s going to die soon.”

Lance pressed his lips together at that. “Well, what about Lotor’s messages? Maybe there’s something there that would tell us what happened? Or at least let us know where he is so that we can avoid him?”

Keith made a face, clearly not wanting to check them, but did anyway. Lance watched him carefully, feeling a fierce protectiveness well up within him as the Omega went even paler, if that was possible. Honestly, he was a bit worried that Keith was going to pass out.

With a shaking hand, Keith handed his phone back to Lance, not saying anything. Lance looked at the overwhelming amount of messages that the unsaved number had sent.

It started with simple things. _Where are you. Answer me._ Then it got more and more demanding. _Come back here. Come here now, we’re going to bed. I am coming to find you. Did you just leave? Who were those people you were with? I’m coming to get you. Where the fuck are you?_

Then it got worse. So much worse. _After we bond tomorrow I will not be tolerating this childishness. This is unacceptable. I am going to kill that wetback Alpha._

Well, looks like Lotor found out about _him_ at some point during the night. Also, on top of being a dynamist tool, he was apparently racist as well.

“Can you check Acxa’s messages?” Keith asked, his voice shaking slightly. He was clearly trying to hold himself together, trying not to show how affected he was by this.

Lance nodded his head and looked under ‘Evil Twin’. “She’s asking where you are, and apparently Lotor was freaking out, and she knew you were texting Shiro at one point but she couldn’t get on his phone. Honestly, she seems more worried than angry.”

Keith took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay. Want to get a cab to the White Lion to find your phone? Then I’ll check my voice messages?”

“Sounds like a plan. Want me to do it?”

Relief crossed the Omega’s features. “Please.”

Once again holding Keith’s phone, Lance make quick work of calling a cab. They finished off the last of their food and went outside to wait. It surprised them both by not taking long at all, and soon they found themselves in the back seat of the cab. It was cramped, but surprisingly clean, so there was that.

Lance watched as Keith tapped out the passcode to his voicemail and pressed the phone to his ear. He went through a series of emotions, occasionally taking the phone from his ear to delete a message.

Then Keith started to tense, his scent souring with fear strong enough to catch the driver’s attention.

“Keith? What’s wrong?” Lance carefully placed a hand on his arm. He blinked with surprise when Keith undid his seatbelt and slid into the middle seat, buckling up again and leaning on Lance, face pressed into his neck, close to his scent gland. This was a very distinctive gesture, one that Omegas did to take comfort from their Alphas.

He grabbed Keith’s phone, not feeling guilty for having noticed what the pass code was. He played the message that Keith had been listening to. Almost immediately, a voice that sounded like it was normally smooth and posh, but was tinted with madness, started _raging_. This was clearly one of the messages sent later on at night.

“You ungrateful slut. We planned this trip to surprise you with a bonding ceremony. It was never about my birthday. I even had movers take the liberty of moving your items from your place into mine. We will be doing our bonding ceremony tomorrow, even if I have to have Zethrid and Ezor hold you down while I bite you. Your childishness is ruining everything. I am your Alpha, not the one you’re running around with now like a slutty bitch in heat. I will not tolerate this behaviour. You _will_ submit and be a proper Omega—“

Lance looked down at Keith, understanding why he was so upset as the message went on an on until it was cut off by Keith’s voicemail being full. Lance felt torn. Torn between wanting to throw up an wanting to hunt down the other Alpha and rip him to pieces, because Lotor was talking about things that Keith had to ‘look forward to’, which sounded more like extremely graphic rape to him.

Though competitive and able to take care of himself, Lance wasn’t one to jump into using his fists first, but he was really fucking considering it now. He was going to erase the message so that Keith never had to hear it again, but stopped. Keith was _his_ mate, and this could be proof of stalking with intent to harm. They might be able to use it as proof to get a restraining order, especially since Lotor had absolutely no claim to Keith now.

Keith shifted, looking up at the driver, before looking at Lance. The man could probably smell the bitterly sour scent coming from Lance, one of pure anger and rage, and was looking ot Keith to calm him. The Omega reached up, putting his hand on Lance’s cheek. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not, and you know it.” Lance knew that he did, that he was just trying to calm him down. “God I’m sorry you had to deal with shit like that. I’m sorry any Omega has to. He’s not going to touch you. I’ll fucking fight him.”

He could _feel_ Keith’s cheeks warming. He was staring up at him with an unreadable expression, and Lance wondered what was going through his mind, what he could possibly be thinking about now about all of this.

If he could hear Keith’s thoughts, he would have heard a silent vow to take out Lotor himself so that someone as _good_ as Lance wouldn’t have to. He would have heard Keith thinking about how this was _his_ mess to clean up.

The thing is, Lance was thinking almost the same thing.

…

The rest of the trip to the White Lion Casino was quiet and tense. Keith stayed curled up to Lance’s side, but he was okay with that, because he actually wanted to hold him close.

The driver must have been glad to drop them off though, because he sped off as soon as he was paid.

The entrance to the White Lion Casino, amusingly enough, was an open, roaring mouth of a lion. It had the potential to be extremely tacky, but it actually looked really nice, made from glass that glittered in the son.

Lance found himself reaching out for Keith’s hand without thinking, but the Omega didn’t seem to mind, threading their hands together as they walked inside. Whatever had gone down last night, this is where it had happened.

They walked towards what looked like a potential service desk, where a woman looked up at them with a smile. “Welcome to the White Lion Casino. How may I help you?”

“Hi,” Lance said cheerfully. “This is going to sound strange, but we were here last night, and I was wondering if my jacket was here? It’s green and has a hood. I think my cellphone might be in it.”

“One second.” She moved to another part of the desk and opened something up underneath, crouching down to look inside. She hummed slightly, apparently in a pretty good mood. It was nice to run into a worker that wasn’t overly reacting to one of them. “Is this it?” She straightened up, holding the jacket up so that he could see.

Lance instantly brightened up. “Yeah it is! Thank you!” He eagerly took it from her, slipping it over his shoulders, reaching into his pocket and feeling, much to his relief, the solid shape of his phone.

“We were obviously here last night,” Keith said, nodded towards Lance’s coat. “And we found these in mine and were wondering if it was still possible to cash them in?” He pushed the bag with casino chips in it.

She peered at it, raising an eyebrow. “Well, in theory, yes. This is an awful lot of money though.”

“We’re not trying to fraud you or anything,” Keith assured her, and honestly, that really hadn’t even occurred to Lance at all.

“Well, we might be able to check with security, just to double check that you won them last night,” she said, sounding rather unsure.

Lance straightened up at that, eyes darting to Keith for a moment before he said, “Actually, is there a way we could talk to security at all? Because we think something may have happened to us here last night.”  
  
“You know, one of my coworkers did say that security had an awful time trying to pull a disruptive Alpha out of here last night,” she said slowly, almost thoughtfully. Her eyes went wide. “Not that we have that type of problem in this establishment often! It’s a very rare occurrence.”

Keith looked up at Lance, and he somehow knew exactly what was going through the Omega’s mind. “Is there a way we could talk to security? Because that may have had to do with us.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

A little while later, a tall, imposing Alpha approached them, dressed in a black suit that screamed business. He stopped in front of them and asked, “Are you the ones who needed security?”

“Yeah, that’s us,” Keith answered, his entire body tensing. Lance shifted closer to him, placing his hand on his far shoulder to stop the subtle sway of his body. This guy was radiating a scent that screamed ‘I am Alpha hear me roar’. It was so potent that it was almost making _him_ dizzy, and he was an Alpha.

Keith may have been wonderfully stubborn, but he was still an Omega, and already Lance could tell that he was feeling the impact of the intense smell from the way he had his eyes lowered and wasn’t completely steady on his feet.

Bonding only made it so the pheromones involved with mating would only impact one another, other Omegas and Alphas couldn’t catch their attention or appeal to them in that way. That being said, they could be impacted in other ways.

The security guard looked between the two of them and said, “Come with me, we’ll get everything straightened out.”

Lance pressed his lips together, not quite sure he liked the thought of staying in close proximity to the man, but this was probably their best chance to figure out what had gone on.

…

Keith like to travel through life like nothing impacted him. If he kept a stern expression, people overlooked him. He would have the rest of the world believe that he was an Omega that no Beta, and especially no Alpha, could mess with.

That stubbornness certainly did help him with some things, but at the end of the day, he was _still_ an Omega. Yeah, he didn’t know Lance that well, had known him for less than a day, but at least he smelled _good_ (he remembered thinking that even before they got their teeth into one another) and not like he had poured an entire bucket of cologne on himself along with his natural scent.

It made him skittish and nervous, more than it would have if he wasn’t so close to his heat. He made sure to stay closer to Lance to help counteract the security guard’s scent.

They were sitting at a table in what looked like a meeting room, a laptop in front of them watching the video from last night. Luckily it was on fast forward, so they could get to the important things.

He couldn’t help but flush slightly as he watched Lance and himself on the screen after they had arrived. Yes, he watched both of them have a drink, but it was only one and they seemed fine. That aside, they were kind of all over one another. Not in a disgusting way, but they always seemed to be touching one another. A hand on an arm, shoulder, or back; leaning against one another; arms around one another.

God, Keith wished he remembered this. He could see himself smiling, and he _knew_ he wasn’t drunk at that point. There was something really uplifting about that. He had liked Lance in his right mind.

They were zooming by a time when Keith was sitting at a blackjack table, Lancing standing behind him. The real Lance whistled as they watched Keith win, the dealer saying something to Lance, who nodded his head. He was probably making sure that it was okay for Keith to have the prize.

“Looks like the money’s legit,” Lance noted. “So we can trade the chips in later.”

Keith nodded in agreement, wishing that he could remember these moments in clarity, but there was something familiar about it.

“Wait, stop!” Lance cried out suddenly, startling both Keith and the security guard. The man stopped the video, going back to when Lance said to stop. Keith watched him lean forward, pointing at the corner of the screen. “Is that Lotor?”

The name startled Keith a bit, and he had to fight the urge to look over his shoulder to see if the disgusting Alpha was actually behind him. Logically speaking, he knew he was there, but Lotor had this nasty habit of just showing up where he wasn’t wanted.

Sure enough, there was a familiar figure in the corner of the screen, a dark scowl on his face, eyes trailed on Keith. The security guard started the footage again, and he watched his oblivious self walking off with Lance, Lotor’s gaze following him the entire time before moving off of the screen in the same direction that they had gone.

“Oh hell,” Lance muttered. “He really did stalk you here.”

“That man,” the security guard said, “was escorted off of the premise last night. We were warned to keep an eye out for him.”

So the person that had made a scene was Lotor.

Keith didn’t know what to think about this at all. He looked towards Lance to see what the Alpha thought about all of this.

He was frowning heavily, brow furrowed as he stared off into space. As if feeling Keith’s gaze on him, Lance glanced towards him. “You know…I think I remember this.”

Keith’s eyes lit up. “Yeah? What do you remember?”

“Well, it started back in the Oriande.”

…

“Hey guys!” Lance cried out happily over the loud sounds of the casino. It was really busy there. He saw Keith shifting nervously beside him as they walked towards where he had left his friends.

Hunk was the first one to look with a smile on his face. Then again, he was almost always smiling. He was taller than Lance, and much stronger. He had black hair that was held out of his warm brown eyes with an orange headband, and brown skin that was a bit darker than Lance’s own skin tone. He was Lance’s oldest friend, the one that had been at his side through thick and thin. “I take it you didn’t find Blue?”

Lance flushed a bit. Okay, maybe he shouldn’t have been trying to stalk the performers from Voltron but he loved them so much and just wanted an autograph. It was the reason that they were here at the Oriande in the first place.

Before he could answer, the smallest of the group looked up. Pidge’s warm sienna eyes zeroed in on Keith, eyebrow raising. “You are most definitely not Blue from Voltron.”

Of course she caught onto the new person with him. Short but filled to the brim with intelligence and spunk, Pidge could be crass at times, but she cared so much about her friends and would do nearly anything for someone she deemed worthy of her time. Her bronze hair hung around her chin, having been freshly cut that morning without warning. Literally, the heathen did it herself on a whim.

“This is my new friend, Keith!” Lance cried out instantly, clapping a hand down on the Omega’s shoulder, feeling him tense up slightly. “I said he could hang out with us for a little while. That cool with you guys?”

“Of course it is,” Hunk spoke up, beaming brightly at him. “The more the merrier. Hi Keith, I’m Hunk Tui. It’s nice to meet you.” He held his hand out to him.

Keith shook his hand awkwardly, and it kind of occurred to Lance that maybe he wasn’t used to people actually treating him like a normal person. It was incredibly common for people to try and figure out what dynamic a person had before approaching them, but Hunk never cared about that.

Pidge jumped up and said, “I’m Katie Holt, but you can call me Pidge, and this is my brother, Matt.”  She motioned towards her brother, who waved at Keith with a smile.

Lance had met Pidge before Matt, and meeting him was a surreal experience, since they looked _so_ much alike. Matt’s hair was actually longer and straighter than Pidge’s, the colour a bit lighter, but those differences only caught your attention if you were looking for them. Of course, the most obvious difference was their height. Where Pidge was short, Matt was fairly tall.

Pidge’s eyes landed on the distinctive collar around Keith’s neck, her fingers reaching up to brush around the one that she wore too. Keith glanced at her collar before looking back at her as she said, “If you’re being held hostage, blink twice.”

“I am _not_ holding him hostage!” Lance cried out and oh god, was that his voice? He did _not_ mean to squeak like that. Oh god. He loved his friends, but they were going to latch onto that and tease him mercilessly, even Hunk. Hunk was a pure ray of sunshine, but what people often forgot about pure rays of sunshine was that they could leave behind nasty burns.

Then the most amazing thing happened: Keith came to his rescue. “Actually, Lance got me away from an Alpha that was…stalking me.” He hesitated, like he didn’t really know how to describe the situation with discount Draco Malfoy. Honestly, that was more alarming than anything else.

That was instantly enough to get everyone off of his case. Hunk straightened his shoulders, Matt frowned, and Pidge instantly looked ready to fight. Of course she would though, she knew what it was like. It was why Lance was so sure that his friends would be down for Keith hanging out with them. All of them had their priorities straight. In fact, they had all met at an Omega Rights rally that all of their families had gone to.

“God I hate Alphas that don’t understand that no means no,” she said, eyes blazing with anger. “What does he look like, just in case?”

“I think he left looking for me,” Keith admitted.

“He looks like Draco Malfoy with super long hair…wait, no…Lucius Malfoy, but not pasty,” Lance said at the same time. Keith stared at him for a moment before shrugging, not putting up any arguments. “So if you guys see him, flip him off.”

“I hope he doesn’t come back,” Keith said with a groan. “If you see him, point him out to me so I can throw myself out a window.” He paused and made a face. “Uh, sorry.” Lance snorted. What a great first impression.

“Okay then,” Hunk said, sounding slightly alarmed about that.

“Let’s go hit the slot machines,” Matt suggested, and they were all very quick to agree, moving from their table and actually going to have a bit of fun.

Pidge and Matt practically flanked Keith, the younger of the two saying something along the lines of getting away from Alpha stink for a bit.

“I don’t smell bad…” Hunk muttered.

“My Mamá says I smell great!” Lance cried out with a pout.

Keith looked a little unsure of being with them, clearly not used to instantly interacting with new people. Then again, why would he? It was a pretty dangerous thing for Omegas to do when they were on their own without anyone they knew.

While the Holts talked to Keith, going around to different machines, Hunk to the opportunity to slide up to Lance. Not that he noticed, until the other Alpha nudged him.

He raised a thick eyebrow and said, “Well, he’s cute.”

Lance instantly flushed, knowing exactly what his friend was talking about. “It’s not like that. I swear. I didn’t bring him here to pick him up. I mean, yeah, he’s hot as hell. I know you you have a preference for tall, buff people, but even you must be able to see that! But we literally just met and god, he was terrified, and that asshole looked _so_ sketchy.”

Hunk frowned at that again. “I know you didn’t have other intentions bringing him over here. That’s not you. Especially not in situations like this. But I mean, we can chill for a bit and maybe you can get his number? No harm, no foul.”

“Hunk…” Lance said, trailing off.

“I’m just saying, it’s been a year. It’s okay to flirt.”

Lance knew his friend meant well, but his breakup with Nyma had _really_ messed with him. It got to the point where he really didn’t want to let anyone else in. He wiggled his leg slightly. “I know, I know. It’s just hard.” He glanced up at Keith, who was now staring at Pidge with genuine interest as she spoke. Every once and awhile though, he would glance towards them before looking back at her.

“Go spend some time with me,” Hunk said, gently shoving him forward. “You were the one that brought him here. It’d be rude if you didn’t.” He paused. “Not that we can do _much_ here. Everything is so expensive. No wonder rumours said Voltron was coming here.”

Yeah, they probably should have gone to another casino, but those places didn’t have Voltron rumours. He wondered if Keith would be up to going somewhere else with them to hang out? Surly it was better than going with someone that did not have good intentions.

Lance was about to reply to that when Pidge let out a screech and Matt burst into wildly laughter, catching the attention of the people around them as well.

“What just happened?” Lance asked, eyes instantly latching on to Keith’s face as it turned bright pink. Honestly, it was the cutest thing he had seen in a long time. Why did he have to be so hot? It was so unfair.

Pidge kept cackling and pointed at Keith.

“Please say that again,” Matt choked out between peals of laughter. He glanced towards Lance and Hunk, eyes filled with tears. “They were bonding over shitty Alphas that hit on them and I just…holy shit…”

Lance looked up at Keith again, who looked like he wanted to sink into the floor for a moment. Then he suddenly straightened his shoulders and sat up properly, making direct eye contact with Lance as he spoke seriously. “I said I’d rather sleep with Bigfoot than stand in a room alone with Lotor.”

Hunk snorted at that, and Lance’s mouth fell open in shock. Not at the words exactly, but the _implication_ behind them.

“Why does this keep happening?” Lance asked, and that set Hunk off. Keith looked completely lost.

“So like, did you just pull that out of nowhere?” Pidge asked once she got a hold of herself, staring at him like he was a science experiment. “Cause if you like cryptids, that’d be kind of awesome.”

Keith stared at her, and Lance was waiting for him to say that he just chose the most random thing he could think of. They already had one cryptid-crazy Omega, they didn’t need two. Wait, what? It wasn’t like Keith was going to become a part of their group or something. This was for a few hours, and even if they wanted him to stay, he probably didn’t live anywhere close to them.

Then, with the single most serious look Lance had seen on him yet, Keith said, “When I was younger, I wanted Mothman to be my mate.”

Pidge lost it, grabbing a hold of his arm. “I’m keeping him now. He’s _my_ mate. You can’t have him back. I need another cryptid-loving Omega in my life! We’re clearly soulmates!” She looked up at Keith. “By the way, I’m ace. So we’d just spend all our time hunting Bigfoot and hacking the government for conspiracies.”

“I’m about as gay as they come,” Keith admitted. “But yeah, okay, that sounds like a plan.”

“Hey! I brought him here!” Lance protested with a pout.

“Shoulda moved faster, bitch!” Pidge cried out, earning a genuine laugh from Keith.

The sound instantly made Lance’s heart leap, and he could feel his cheeks burning. He really liked his laughter.

He looked up towards Lance to say something, but focused on something behind him instead. Instantly, the laughter and amusement vanished. He hunched down, tugging the collar of his jacket up higher, like he was trying to make himself as small and unnoticeable as possible.

Lance instantly tensed and looked around, scanning the area behind him. His eyes landed on a head of platinum blond hair, and he inhaled sharply. “Shit. That’s him.” The other three all looked up at the same time. “What are you doing? He’s going to notice!”

“Is that hair real?” Matt asked as he and Pidge both scooted closer to Keith, as if to block him. For what it was worth, Lance and Hunk did the same. It was probably a good thing that Keith had some kind of scent blocker on, because otherwise the smell of distressed Omega would probably make them lose it. “It looks like it came out of a L’Oréal commercial.”

“He looks like he’d spout out ‘if my father heard about this’ or something,” Pidge added with a scowl. “You were right about the description.”

“He’s still looking around, almost like he knows you’re in here,” Hunk noted, watching him from a reflection of a nearby mirror. “What’s his deal?”

Keith bit his lip before quietly saying. “He and my sister lied to get me here, saying we were celebrating his birthday. I didn’t want to do that in the first place, but I’m an Omega and she’s an Alpha so here I am. But it was a set up for a bonding ceremony tomorrow. My sister even signed this legal thing giving him permission to go through with it, so if he has it on him and drags me away, I can’t do anything about it.” Keith laughed bitterly. “Forget Bigfoot. I’d rather die.”

There he went again. Lance wasn’t going to rant at him for saying things like that so easily, because he got the nasty feeling that Keith was being completely serious, and that was incredibly alarming. He’d heard of it before, Omegas who just couldn’t deal with their Alphas and decided that it was better that they weren’t here at all. It was devastating and entirely unfair.

If an Alpha had just managed to keep their dick in their pants and their teeth away from their necks, those people would still be alive. There was no one else to blame, though legally, the Alpha was rarely ever blamed. It was always seen as an Omega being weak. There were only some extreme situations where it was obvious that it was the Alpha’s fault. Funnily enough, he never heard of things quite like that from Beta and Omega couples. Oh, they weren’t perfect all the time either, anyone of any dynamic could be a right douchebag, but it wasn’t the same.

It was sad how a very vocal and dangerous few couple make everyone look bad.

Lance didn’t know Keith at all. What he did know was that he didn’t deserve this. No Omega did. He decided then and there that he was going to do anything he could to help get him away from this freak. “Let’s get out of here. You too, Keith. He can’t drag you away if you’re not here. Stick with us for a while, an then we’ll get a hold of your family to let them know you’re okay.”

“I—“ Keith inhaled sharply. Lance looked up to see that the Alpha, Lotor, had spotted them. At first, he looked confused, but then something dark passed over his face as he started towards them. “I’m in!”

With those words, they all _bolted_. They heard a shout behind them, but none of them stopped. What was the worst that could happen? Well, Lance _supposed_ that Lotor could call the police and say that they kidnapped Keith, but that was a risk he was going to take. Somewhere along the way, Lance grabbed a hold of Keith’s arm and kept him close so they wouldn’t get separated.

They didn’t stop running even after getting outside, hurrying down the sidewalks that were busy even as the sky got darker.

They ran and ran, until he had to stop because Keith was shaking. Everyone else came to a stop with them, gasping for breath. Lance prided himself on being a strong runner with a lot of stamina though, so he wasn’t too bad. Also, he was worried that Keith had started crying.

Except, he wasn’t crying at all. He was _laughing_. It was loud, bright, genuine, and shook his entire body. One by one, the others started joining in.

Lance didn’t though. In fact, he felt his breath leave him, and it had nothing to do with the run. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from Keith broad smile and flushed cheeks, the flashing lights of Vegas dancing over his skin and bathing him in different hues.

Lance as a romantic. Always had been. He had always loved the _thought_ of love at first sight, but had never experienced it. Attraction? Absolutely. Love? No. Even now, he still thought that.

Though when Keith met his eyes again, he could hear the thundering of his heart over the noise all around them.

Maybe love at first sight wasn’t real. Maybe it took just a little while longer, because he got that inkling that this feeling was exactly what that term meant. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Could Lotor have dragged Keith away from them without anyone saying anything? Absolutely. He has to catch him first though, and we already know how that turned out. 
> 
> Just so we're clear, any derogatory terms used by character are part of _their characterization_. They are not okay to use, though I shouldn't have to tell you that. 
> 
> A few things. I LOVE the headcanon that Keith's lactose intolerant and takes that are a goddamn dare to drink milk. Like, dairy can meet him in the pit he's not backing down.
> 
> I also love the headcanon that both he and Pidge are into cryptids. I'm assuming this comes from their conspiracy (that turned to be true) hunting and stuff, but still. It amuses me a lot. I have NO idea where Keith loving mothman came from, but I thought it'd be fun to nod at that.
> 
> As always, if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask, and you can also do that over on my


	6. Kiss It Better

“This is what I’m talking about!” Pidge cried out happily as they walked through the doors of the White Lion Casino. It instantly seemed much more lively than the Oriande in a good way. There were just people around, not people look down their noses at them. Her sienna eyes looked over the area almost hungrily. “I’m going to make bank here.”

Hunk snorted, looking around with interest. Matt looked just as excited as his sister, a mischievous air about him.

“Hey?”

“Hmm?” Lance glanced over at Keith, who looked almost uncomfortable.

“Your friends are pretty great,” he said, nodding towards them. “And I—thank. For asking me to hang out with you guys. For letting me run with you.”

He beamed brightly at the Omega, his heart leaping at the last words. Good god, he was going to have a heart attack before this night was over, wasn’t he? “I’m glad you’re here. Makes things interesting and I also have someone who isn’t a science geek with me.” He loved his friends, and he wasn’t stupid by any means at all, but all three of them were essentially geniuses in their own right. It made things confusing at times. “And the night’s only young. We’ve got a ton of stuff to do! Ever gambled before?”

“Not even once,” Keith replied. “Unless watching Pidge and Matt earlier counts?”

“No way! You gotta get down and dirty yourself!” He looked at his friends, practically bouncing on his feet. What could he say? He was _excited_. “How are we playing this?”

The White Lion was bright and loud, with thousands of games, lights and so many different rooms. Lance knew there were probably shops around along with loads of different kinds of games, places to buy food, bars, and even shows to watch.

“I’m hitting the tables!” Matt exclaimed, a smirk on his lips.

“Don’t get caught,” Pidge warned him.

“I never do.” He slunk off without another word, looking quite smug.

Lance leaned close to Keith and muttered, “He counts cards.” The Omega snorted at that, the sly look on his face telling the Alpha that, just maybe, Matt wasn’t the only one that could do that here.

Pidge spun around dramatically to face them and paused. Her eyes darted from Lance, to Keith, and back again. Her lips turned up slightly and she twisted to face Hunk instead. “Hunk, my dear Alpha friend, care to come with me to wreck the slots and keep the other nasty Alphas off of me?” She nodded towards Lance.

A wide grin spread across Hunk’s face. “You bet!” He wasn’t even subtle when he winked at Lance.

The Alpha felt his face burn, but shit, he _liked_ Keith so far. The man was beyond attractive, both handsome and beautiful, and he was interesting too. They hadn’t even talked all that much, it was mostly just based on extrapolation from his actions, but Lance _wanted_ to know more. Maybe they might end up going far from one another, but who said that it _had_ to be goodbye after tonight. Online friends were a thing. And sometimes that even lead to more.

He cleared his throat, taking a chance and cautiously placing his hand on Keith’s shoulder. He didn’t want him to feel like he was being pressured into anything. “So, what do you wanna do?”

Keith’s indigo gaze studied the hand on his shoulder, an odd expression passing over his features. Lance was about to lift his hand and apologize, but an oddly determined look spread across the Omega’s face, and he took a step closer to Lance so that their arms were pressed closely with one another. “No idea. Why don’t you show me what you like first?”

Lance felt like his face was on _fire_ , easily falling victim to Keith’s low voice, cocked eyebrow, subtle flutter of his eyes, and the teasing grin on his face. Good god, he thought that hostile Keith was attractive in a strange way, but it was nothing compared to a flirty Keith. Thank _god_ he was still wearing that scent suppressing strip, or Lance might just curl into a pathetic ball on the floor.

“Uh—well—this way!” He turned and tried to walk, and ended up walking right into a wall. He yelped and felt like melting into the floor, but Keith’s genuine laughter reached his ears.

The Omega was looking at him like he was the dumbest, best thing that he had ever seen, and okay, Lance could work with that.

“Let’s try this again.” He offered his arm to Keith with a silly grin, his heart leaping as Keith slid his arm through his.

“Show me the ways of gambling!”

Let it be known that casinos and certain kinds of bars actually weren’t Lance’s scene. He liked dance clubs quite a bit, and he liked chilling at restaurants, pubs, and cafés with his friends. That being said, he was suddenly sure that casinos had gone up on his list of places he enjoyed.

Almost winning the big bucks was positively addictive (well, as big as they could without getting invited to a private room), and maybe he would have gotten lost in the slot machines like Pidge and Hunk seemed to be when they ran into them, but he found himself very distracted by the Omega that didn’t stray far from his side.

This _could_ have been for practical reasons. There were a lot of Alphas that did a double-take in their direction, hungry eyes lingering on Keith’s collar for a moment before looking at the rest of him. Lance bristled a bit any time he saw it. The thing is though, Keith seemed to _want_ to be close to him. Lingering touches and flirty grins made that very obvious.

Keith had mentioned something about Lotor only noticing him because of his brother and sister-in-law, or something along those lines, but Lance knew that couldn’t be true. Sure, maybe it prompted the jerk to turn his head for the first time, but in Lance’s humble opinion, Keith seemed to just draw the eyes of everyone nearby.

Maybe he was a bit biased though, because he could smell the Omega’s scent lingering on him just slightly (since his primary gland was covered), and he _knew_ that Keith definitely smelled like him at this point. It was pretty obvious, because almost anyone that got close enough to him would glance over at Lance before moving on.

That’s right. The really hot Omega was with _him_.

There was also something about watching Keith genuinely smile and have fun. With the lingering threat of a monstrous Alpha always hanging over him, or his seemingly controlling sister hovering around him, Lance wondered when the last time he let loose like this was.

They even took a shot at one of the blackjack tables. Well, Keith did (after the dealer got the okay from Lance, because of course an Omega couldn’t even play a card game with real money without permission), while Lance watched with eager eyes.

Though he could keep a scowl on his face, Keith had expressive eyes and eyebrows. It was probably why he didn’t bother with poker. As it happened, Keith seemed to be using this to his advantage. Lance got the _distinct_ feelings that Lance was correct with his assumption that Keith could count cards too (they had seen that Matt moved on to a low-stakes poker game earlier, so Lance wasn’t sure if Matt was successful or not with his counting), but no one else seemed to notice because he was playing as an innocent, oblivious Omega. It was _hilarious_ when Keith ended up winning. It was a pretty sizeable amount of money too.

Lance wanted to take a shot at some of the roulette games, and though he didn’t win, there was something notice about having Keith press up against his side. As they made their way around the casino, they got progressively touchier with one another. It was kind of nice.

“Wanna get a drink?” Lance asked, leaning down so that Keith could hear him. To anyone watching them though, it probably looked like he was whispering in his ear or something. Keith looked up at him unsurely, and he quickly added, “Not that you have to. I’m going to get one, maybe something to munch on too.”

Lance was close enough to see Keith’s eyes widen just slightly as he studied him, seemingly weighing his options. After a moment, his lips tilted into a sly smirk. “One or two drinks won’t hurt if you’re there.”

“You’re going to give me a heart attack.” Oh, shit. Had he said that out loud? Keith looked taken aback for a moment before he chuckled, no doubt very proud with himself if that smug smile said anything.

A part of Lance was coming up with excuses about why they stayed so close to one another. It was so they wouldn’t get separated. It was so unwanted people would leave Keith alone (or people would leave _him_ alone, because he didn’t want anyone flirting with him right now either).

In reality though, he just felt _drawn_ to him. It was so weird. He hadn’t felt like this with his other partners. Then again, neither of them had been an Omega, so there might have been that subconscious drawn too. Not that Keith was his partner.

Keith was so different from Nyma or Plaxum. He was certainly beautiful, but he wasn’t delicate looking like they had been. He looked like he could probably haul Lance over his shoulder and go for a walk. Maybe that was _why_ he drew Lance in so much. He was so different, but still caught his attention faster than either of them had.

Not to mention he was a very subtle, but relentless flirt when he wanted to be. Lance felt like he was dying either those curved brows, smirks, and telling eyes. Keith was surprisingly forward, which isn’t what Lance expected from their first meeting. Here they were though.

“What do you want?” Lance asked as they managed to find seats actually at a bar. There was some kind of show going on now, so there were a few less people where they were. “Beer?”

“No thanks,” Keith made a face at that. “I like things that actually taste good.”

“Holy shit, me too. What’s with that? Me, I’m a Melon Ball kind of guy.”

“A what?”

“Oh, I’m so getting you one of those. You okay with vodka? They’re not supposed to be super strong.” Keith nodded and Lance ordered two of those.

The bartender came back with two bright green drinks that the Omega eyed warily. Lance slung an arm over his shoulder and said, “Come on, don’t you trust me?” He realized a moment later that it was a very stupid question, because Keith didn’t know him.

Even so, Keith gave him a look that had his heart racing, though he couldn’t at all determine what was going on through the other man’s head. He watched as Keith tried the drink, and positively lit up. “This is really good! I’m actually a huge sucker for sweet things.”

“Right?” Oh no, was that _his_ voice making that squeaky sound? It was, wasn’t it? Also, he was so storing that little fact away for later. If there was some kind of later.

The bartender was smiling at them, clearly amused by their antics.

The two talked and sipped their first drink, practically pressed up against one another to ‘hear properly’, or so Keith said when he scooted closer.

“Having fun?” Lance asked as the conversation lulled in a natural way. He felt oddly content right now.

Keith nodded. “I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun, honestly.” He pressed his lips together, eyes furrowing a bit as he finished his drink. They had agreed on two drinks max, so the Omega quickly ordered another one instead of trying something else. “I know I said it earlier, but thank you. For hiding me. For letting me hang out with you and your friends. For…treating me like a person.”

Lance’s face flushed as he finished his first drink as well. “It’s no problem. This has been…well…I’m really glad you agreed to hang out with us.” His eyes looked down and then back up. “Hey, maybe we can exchange numbers? Emails? Whatever?”

An incredibly odd expression passed over Keith’s face, like Lance had kicked him in the stomach and had given him the best compliment of his life at the same time. He wasn’t sure what to make of that.

“I’d like that,” Keith blurted out before Lance could tell him it was okay to say no.

Instantly, a rush of warmth overtook Lance, and he smiled broadly, feeling like he was about to burst. Or maybe that was just his bladder, because suddenly he really needed to go to the washroom.

“My bladder had really shitty timing.”

Not only did Keith snort, but the bartender almost tripped at his words. Oh no, he had said that out loud, hadn’t he?

“Ridiculous Alpha,” Keith said, eyes filled with affection. “Go use the washroom. I’ll be fine here on my own for a couple minutes.”

“Alright. Five minutes’ tops, no matter how busy it is. Count it!” Lance actually ran off, feeling so giddy that he almost lost control of himself then and there.

His night really couldn’t get any better.

…

Keith watched Lance rush off with unadulterated amusement. The bartender that was working there chuckled and said, “You’ve got yourself a good Alpha there.”

He pulled his phone out and accepted the new drink that she gave him, feeling completely at ease. Yes, he was a little more on guard now that Lance wasn’t actually there with him, but he knew he smelled like him and that helped some. Not to mention, no one was really paying attention to him.

“I do,” Keith agreed, unable to hide his smile as he texted Shiro again, having been doing that all night as they went from machine to machine, table to table. Could he gush about Lance more? Maybe? Probably not. Definite yes. Shiro hadn’t responded since his first ‘I’m okay’ text, but that was okay. He was probably busy with Allura. He really didn’t want or need to think about it.

He thought about Lance wanting to exchange phone numbers to keep in contact, and his stomach constricted again. He wanted to _so_ badly. It was ridiculous, they had only known one another for a couple hours, but he had _never_ felt this kind of pull towards anyone before, not even his past boyfriends. Yes, he had liked them a lot, but not like this.

When he was younger, his mother had told him the story about how all Omegas had a true mate. One person in the world that was made for them. Of course Keith knew there wasn’t any truth to that. The world wouldn’t be nearly as screwed up if that were true (okay, Omega rights were much better in other places, and somehow _worse_ in others still, but the point still stood). Still, what she had described was almost like what he was feeling now, and Keith kind of wanted to believe it.

Of course, it could also be that Lance was attractive, funny, friendly, and treated him like a person first. Even his flirting and touches were respectful. Never once did he feel like Lance was pushing him for anything. It was really nice.

Honestly, Keith wasn’t hard to impress. He didn’t need a strong, rich Alpha. He didn’t need someone who paraded themselves around like they were some hot shit dominant person when they were probably just overcompensating to hide their insecurities.

Keith used to do that with his anger a lot during the point of his life when he and Acxa were put into the foster care system after their father died and their mother was deemed unfit to look after them. He knew it was okay to open up to others now, but it was hard.

Or he thought it was. Who the hell did Lance think he was? Crashing through those boundaries without trying at all. Keith couldn’t remember, for the life of him, the last time he had let someone get so touchy-feely with him so quickly. It definitely didn’t happen with his past relationships. He was usually much more restrained with his flirting, because he _knew_ how others could take that. He wasn’t a tease by any means, but it was just so easy with Lance. Most of the time he just stood at a distance and checked hot guys out.

Thinking about it made him sad, because as much as Keith wanted to stay in the fantasy that was the world he was in now, he knew how this was going to end. They were going to part ways. He was going to end up at a bonding ceremony, staring at those dead-navy eyes and platinum blond hair that he hated so much.

Someone was going to have to literally hold him down for Lotor to bite him, because he was _not_ going to make it easy.  

Lotor had paid for their hotel rooms, had paid for them to get there. He was in complete control right now (though Allura and Shiro did have money too so there was that). Keith was a realist, and he knew how this was going to go down, even if he didn’t want it at all. He was _still_ going to make the Alpha’s life miserable though. Sadly, that meant that he was also probably going to end up ending himself too.

It was kind of scary how he had already accepted that he wouldn’t live to see 23, because what was really the point of staying in the type of life that he _knew_ he would have with Lotor.

Just thinking about it made that pungent wasabi scent hit him hard. He wasn’t _trying_ to insult wasabi at all, and mentally apologized to it, wishing he had something else to compare the potent stink too, but he also didn’t want to insult anything else. It was crazy how his mind had conjured that smell, because it was so real that it was making his stomach churn.

“There you are.”

Keith jumped, nearly knocking over his drink. His eyes were wide and he wheeled around on his seat, eyes trailing up a very familiar form as panic rose up in him. What the ever living _fuck_? How had Lotor found him?

Lotor looked around the area, lip curling in disgust. “Come now, this is no place for my Omega to be alone. Anyone could come up and take you away.”

Panic rose up within Keith, cringing away from the possessive scent that was almost screaming at him to submit. It made him feel nauseated and lightheaded in a bad way.

There was movement in the corner of his eye, and he saw the bartender whisper something to one of the other workers. The worker looked over to them before _running_ away from the bar.

Apparently Keith’s lack of reaction wasn’t what Lotor was looking at him. The Alpha narrowed his eyes and grabbed his arm. “You’ve had your fun, we’re leaving.”

Coming back to himself, Keith yanked his arm away, slipping back on the bar stool slightly. All Alphas had a certain tone of voice that they could use that impacted all other dynamics, but definitely did more to Omegas than Betas. Keith could feel a small part of his mind saying that they _had_ to go with him because he said so.

Fuck that. Nope. Not today, Satan.

“I’m not going _anywhere_ with you,” he spat out. If he had fur, it probably would have been raised. His hand twitched, inching towards the spot where his knife was hidden.

Despite his earlier acknowledgement that he was probably going to be forced to mate with Lotor, in the heat of the moment, Keith decided that he was going to fight tooth and nail.

The Alpha glanced at something behind Keith briefly before shifting a bit. He leaned in close, far too close for comfort, his smell making Keith’s eyes water a bit. “That is _enough_.” He was looming over him, Keith still sitting, back pressed against the bar, one of Lotor’s hands resting by his shoulder, the other by his drink. “I will _not_ tolerate my Omega humiliating me in public.”

Keith gritted his teeth, narrowed his eyes, and spat out, “I’d rather slit my own throat than be _your_ Omega.” He didn’t want to cause a scene and be labelled as one of _those_ Omegas. The ones that people said really needed an Alpha because they had breakdowns without them (because clearly normal mental health issues didn’t apply to you if you had the ability to go into heat once every three months). He’d probably get people pushing him _into_ Lotor’s car.

Lotor’s hand grabbed his arm painfully tight. Keith cringed a bit, because no matter how stubborn he was, Lotor was still strong, and pain was still painful. The Alpha leaned in dangerously close and lowered his voice so that only Keith could hear him. “Allura made a fool of me once, I will not tolerate it happening again. You think you get a choice in any of that?” The hand that had been by his drink suddenly moved, fingers running down his cheek. “All I have to do is tie you down with your legs open for me until the only things you care about are getting fucked and having my pups. That is your very nature as an Omega, after all.”

Keith snapped. He reeled his arms back and punched him in the gut, _hard._  
  
The Alpha stumbled away, his face _furious_. He made to go towards Keith again when someone grabbed Lotor and _tossed_ him away. Lance and Hunk stood there together, both of them looking absolutely _furious_.

“Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” Lance asked, turning his attention to Keith. The bartender was talking to someone on the phone behind them, saying something about security.

Keith was still _so_ riled up. Still ready to fight something. At the same time though, he was _so_ relieved that Lance and Hunk were both there. He gave into the one thing he wanted more than anything, walking into Lance’s arms and practically molding himself to his side. How much cuddling would it take to get Lotor’s stench off of him?

In a way, this made him feel terribly weak, but _he_ was deciding that he needed it, so anyone who was going to judge him could screw off. That included that side of his brain that told him to toughing up.

Lance didn’t seem to mind, arms wrapping around him and holding him tightly.

“I suggest you _leave_ ,” Hunk snarled at Lotor. Lotor may have been even taller than him, but Hunk was visibly a hell of a lot stronger. Not to mention there were two men in black suits coming towards them.

The bartender pointed at Lotor and said, “Him.”

The security guards nodded, one moving to the enraged Alpha. “Sir, I need you to come with me.”

Lotor was visibly _beyond_ angry. Keith liked to think that he was brave, but god, did he ever want to hide away from that glare. “You have no right to be here. You are interfering with _my_ promised Omega. I have the paperwork signed by his familial Alpha. These two took him from me, and I am simply recovering him.”

The security guards looked towards Keith and Lance. Keith felt himself relax slightly as Lance slid his cheek against Keith’s, bring him close as he scented him. It was a possessive gesture, but Keith responded positively to it, not caring who was staring at them.

Having the direct comparisons between Lotor and Lance right in front of him made something click into place. At least on a chemical level, his brain had decided that _this_ was the scent of his Alpha. It didn’t matter if it was only a few more hours, or an eternity, Keith was going to take whatever time he could get with him. To be with someone that seemed genuinely attracted to _him_ , and not his _heat cycle_.

 The guard actually snorted in disbelief. “Show me.” He didn’t believe Lotor. He didn’t believe him! Then again, security probably had to deal with rich people all the time, so it’s not like Lotor was impressing anyone.

Except, it didn’t matter what anyone said or did. If Lotor pulled out those papers, it was over.

Keith _clung_ to Lance, feeling bile creep up his throat. He eyed the exit, knowing he could run there before anyone could stop him. Adrenaline started kicking in, and he was ready to go if need be.

Except, Lotor _didn’t_ reach into his pockets to produce said proof. In fact, he actually looked taken back that the security guard didn’t believe him. Keith’s heart leapt. He didn’t have the papers on him. Holy shit. He must have gone somewhere after seeing them at the Oriande and left it there.

Keith could _cry_ from this turn of events and the sheer goddamn luck involved.

Without those papers, it was obvious that no one was going to believe Lotor, so long as he didn’t get Acxa there. Keith was pretty sure she would have been at his side, trying to drag Keith away if she was here already.

He could _see_ the thoughts going through Lotor’s mind. He _could_ call the police and claim that Lance had kidnapped him, giving himself enough time to get the papers, but Keith knew he wouldn’t.

It was something he had heard Acxa and Ezor complaining about before. Lotor didn’t like outside authority, and had no desire to work with any form of law enforcement, hiring his own personal investigators. He wasn’t going to get outside forces to deal with something like this. It could turn into a PR nightmare. He had always personally found that super suspicious, like the Alpha had something to hide. 

Keith kind of hoped that he’d pitch a fit or something, but instead, Lotor glared at him fiercely, silently promising pain for his disobedience, and left with a dignified air.

Honestly, that was a little more alarming. Keith liked problems that he could face head-on.

After assuring security that they were fine, Keith found his knees almost quaking. He sat back down, Lance staying beside him. He took several deep breaths and said, “I’m sorry. We were having fun and—“

“Don’t apologize for that dick, Keith,” Hunk cut him off, his scent souring slightly at the thought of Lotor.

“Hunk’s right,” Lance agreed, running his hand up and down his arm. “It’s not _your_ fault he can’t take a hint.” He looked up at Hunk. “I know we’ve already skipped places once, but maybe we should bounce and go somewhere else for a bit?” He turned his attention to Keith again. “Unless you just wanna go back to Shiro? We’d understand why.”

Keith blinked, almost ready to say yes, because it was Shiro, but when he thought about it, how could that be safe? He’d be going to where the proof of Lotor’s claim was. That wouldn’t help him at all. It wasn’t just that though. He didn’t _want_ to go back. “No. I’m having fun with you guys.”

God, with the way Lance was smiling, you’d think he just gave him the sun or something.

“Leaving is a good idea,” Hunk agreed with a nod of his head. “You guys wait here, I’m going to find Matt and Pidge. If we don’t leave now, they’re probably going to get arrested for something anyway.” He hurried to go find them.

Keith sighed and leaned back slightly. He spotted his bright green drink out of the corner of his eye, picking it up and knocking back half of it in one go. He made a face and said, “God, I can’t even enjoy this anymore. Why does he ruin _everything_?”

Lance swiped the glass from him and drank the rest almost playfully, as if ready to tease him. He made a face though. “That one wasn’t as good as the first. Don’t worry about it.”

He really wanted to reply playfully, but found that he couldn’t. He was kind of exhausted, but he also didn’t want this night to end. He _couldn’t_ go back to his family. He couldn’t. He didn’t _want_ to.

Lance seemed to catch onto this, settling for cuddling him close while they waited. Luckily, the most eventful thing that happened was a woman handing Keith a flyer that he put into his pocket. Something about the Olkarion? He wasn’t sure, he was feeling a bit dizzy and tired.

A part of him wanted to just curl up next to the comforting Alpha and never let go.

…

It was common knowledge that the best packs, the best group of friends, were made from all kinds of different dynamics. It helped them balance each other out in positive ways. Some people (some Alphas) may claim that packs were old and outdated, that what mattered was immediate family and too many people would make things too stressful (mostly for their poor pregnant Omegas that they isolated from everyone else), but that was a notion that the vast majority disagreed with.

Lance came from a big family where he even knew his cousins’ children and everyone was always there for everyone else. Yes, there were some bad eggs here and there but they were a family. So he knew how to get along with people from all dynamics.

It was why he and Hunk got along so well. It was common to find Alphas you got along or were friends, but it was uncommon to find two Alphas who weren’t related that got along as well as he and Hunk did. There tended to be a little bit too much butting heads or vying for control. Lance and Hunk got along very well, rarely ever getting annoyed with one another like it was said that Alphas tended to do.

He had absolutely no qualm following Hunk’s lead, especially when he was distracted with other things.

Hunk had gathered them all and led them out the door (apparently he had found Matt and Pidge cashing their suspiciously large amount of chips and tokens), only stopping to explain when they were away from the White Lion.

Lance wasn’t listening to the conversation though, instead, he was staring at Keith, who was illuminated by the colourful lights from the massive fountain that they were by. Keith, in turn, was staring at the water in pure awe.

“Are you okay?” Pidge asked Keith suddenly, bristling with anger despite her slight sway. Apparently she managed to get some alcohol too, even if she shouldn’t have been allowed. Her fake IDs were flawless though.

The other Omega nodded his head, and the two of them and Matt sat down together on the edge of the fountain, talking quietly.

Lance felt a hand on his arm and looked back at Hunk, who was staring at him with concern. His brown eyes roamed over his face for a moment before saying, “What’s up?”

“Hunk…I _really_ like him,” Lance admitted. Good lord, he felt dizzy, and were the lights always this bright? He wasn’t sure.

“You just met him, remember?” Hunk asked him. Right, Lance had pointed that out earlier, hadn’t he?

“I know!” He threw his hands in the air dramatically. “It’s wild! But he’s just awesome and he’s not all ‘I’m an Omega please take care of me’, and he’s really hot, and I really like him. I hate that the creep won’t leave him alone. He’s going to try and force him to bond with him.”

Hunk sighed. “That _is_ horrible, but buddy I—are you okay? Your eyes are dilated.” Hunk leaned in close, narrowing his eyes at him.

“I’m great!” And honestly, he felt great too. Everything was so light. He felt like he could just float away. His eyes fell back onto Keith, and he made his way over, only veering slightly. He tried to sit with him, but ended up missing and sitting _on_ him instead.

Keith wobbled a bit, but stopped himself from tipping back in the water. He laughed and wrapped his hands around his waist, nuzzling his face into Lance’s shoulder.

Honestly, this was super comfy. He liked cuddling Keith, but it was super nice to be cuddled by him too. Maybe it was the muscles. He didn’t know. He felt like he was swooning though. Or maybe he was just dizzy.

“Hey, Keith?” Hunk crouched down in front of them. “Look at me for a minute.”

Keith obeyed without any hesitation, string directly at Hunk. The other Alpha frowned like he normally did when he was trying to piece together how parts of a machine worked. His eyebrows shot up and he said, “Wait, did you drink or eat anything Lotor gave you?”

The Omega snorted. “No.” He looked almost insulted by the question, but then looked off in the distance. “But my drink was on the bar when he was all up in my personal bubble.”

“Fuck that, I’m the only one allowed in your personal bubble,” Lance said, nuzzling Keith’s neck, lips brushing against his collar. The other man laughed in response and nodded. That was good.

Everything was great.

…

Hunk leaned away from them, frowning heavily as he watched the two of them. “Shit.”

“What’s up?” Matt asked. Though Hunk had found him with a drink, Matt clearly didn’t have enough to be drunk.

Hunk looked at him for a moment before looking back at the other two. “Did Lance drink some of it?”

“Yeah,” Lance answered, looking up from where he had buried his face in Keith’s neck. “It tasted funny. Who makes bad melon balls? Keith had a bad drink.”

“I’ll give you a bad drink,” Keith slurred and twisted slightly, playfully threatening to toss him into the water. Lance whined and held onto him tightly.

Despite her intoxication, Pidge’s mind seemed to be as sharp as ever. She stared at them, mouth falling open in shock. “Holy shit! Did he try to drug you, and ended up getting both of you instead?”

Keith looked at her, completely unfocused. He blinked several times. “Well, he was going to force me into a bonding ceremony even though I hate him tomorrow.” His eyes went wide. “Oh shit. That’s exactly what he’s tryin’ ta do. Cause I sure as shit won’t go easy.” Hunk watched in pure awe as he went from mildly confused to full-on pissed.

With that, he started angrily ranting, in a babbling kind of way. “What the fuck, he’s such an asshole. He was _all_ over Allura, n’ she actually _liked_ him, but then found out that he was a fuckin’ super creep that actually tried to hurt her when she called him out on it, cause he’s like his father who was a psycho too before he disappeared – hey wait bet Lotor offed him or somthin’ – and like, Allura is pretty sure he’s got like this torture porn shit in his basement. I’m pretty sure that he only comes after me because Allura got together with Shiro.  I actually want to kick his ass right now. I hope we find him, I’m gonna _destroy_ him. Fuckin’ shank him with my knife.”

By the time he was done, he seemed to have gotten himself completely riled up. He stood, causing Lance to topple off of him with a slight laugh. The Alpha scooted back up until he was the one sitting on the edge of the fountain instead. The two stared at one another, and Keith added, “Imma fight him and break his stupid, pointy face. It’s stupid, right?”

“Yeah, it is.” Lance was looking at him like he was the best thing in the world. “But also, holy shit, that’s stupid hot.” He grabbed Keith’s hand and tugged him, the Omega wobbling before he fell into Lance’s lap this time. “Don do that. Stay here with me.” He held on to the E sound for much longer than he needed to.

Hunk watched Keith instantly became more docile at Lance’s words, burying his face into the crook of Lance’s neck, who was all too happy to cuddy him close.

Pidge and Matt had started whispering behind Hunk while Keith ranted. Pidge jerked up and yelled, “Oh my god! That makes sense!”

Hunk jumped and looked at her. “What does?”

She ignored him, going back beside Keith. “Can I see your phone? Do you have location services on?”

He surrendered his phone without any hesitation after unlocking it. “Govername—gov—those dicks in charge ain’t gonna stalk me easy.” Was that a bit of Texan accent coming through? This whole thing was a mess.

Hunk watched as Pidge skipped over a huge amount of messages and missed calls on his phone. They should probably tell his family where he was, but honestly, Hunk wasn’t sure that was a good idea. What family tried to sell their Omega sibling to someone like Lotor?

Unfortunately, a lot of them.

Pidge stopped going through the mess of his phone and opened an app. Her brows rose and she showed it to Keith. “What about this app?”

The Omega blinked and then narrowed his eyes like he couldn’t really see it. “The fuck is that?”

“You didn’t download this?”

“No? Shiro tries to put games on my phone cause he’s a fuckin’ loser, but that’s not Candy Crush, so fuck if I know what it is.”

“Son of a _bitch_ ,” Pidge hissed. She looked up at Hunk. “There’s a super suspicious app on here that was hidden really well in a couple different folders, and guess who is the only person connected to it?”

“Lotor?” Hunk guessed, his own mind whirring over that.

“Lotor,” she repeated, spitting out the name like he was the devil himself. Pidge might not have been involved in this directly, but few people could verbally tear apart people that pissed them off like she could. She looked back at Keith. “I bet this is how he found you. Shit, he might even have other ways to track you. Turn off your phone. I need to _ruin_ this fucker’s life, and I have the funds for it now! I need my laptop! Come, Matt!

Keith took the phone back from her and struggled with shutting if off, his coordination suddenly horrible. Lance, with his arms wrapped around him, helped Keith figure it out and slipped it into his pocket.

The Omega smiled at him and then looked at Pidge. “You don’t gotta do that. I mean, you don’t know me.”

Pidge stomped her foot on the ground. “You’ve spent more than an hour with us! You are one of us now! Ride or die, Keith! Are you ride or die?”

He blinked several times, staring at her in awe. “I can fly a hoverbike?”

“Isn’t that illegal for an Omega?” Hunk blurted out before he could stop himself, because that wasn’t at all the point.

“Hell yeah!” Pidge yelled out. “Ride or die! Come Matt!” She started to storm away.

“Wait. Wait, wait! As the older sibling, I have to be responsible!” Matt narrowed his eyes at her. “So what are you thinking about?”

“Complete and utter destruction of douchebag-Alpha kind.”

“I’m down, let’s do it,” he agreed without hesitation. Pidge cackled, and the two of them rushed off.

“No!” Hunk yelled after the Holt siblings. The worst part of this situation? Matt was only slightly buzzed and he was still on board. This screamed trouble. “They’re going to get arrested.” He had to do something to _stop_ them from doing something stupid. He looked back towards Keith and Lance, who looked adorably sweet as they cuddled and innocently scented one another. “Come on guys, let’s go with them.”

Keith’s head slowly turned towards him. He tried to stand, but his legs shook and he flopped back on top of Lance. He laughed again. “My legs feel funny. Wanna stay here.”

Lance nuzzle him. “I’ll stay here with you.”

Hunk groaned as he watched the two of them. “What do I do?” He looked in the direction Pidge and Matt had run off in. Did he go after his friends who were very likely to get arrested, or did he stay with the ones who were probably drugged? “Ugh, why do you guys do this to me?”

“You can go,” Lance said suddenly, looking at Hunk. “We’ll stay here and cuddle.” He looked at Keith. “Yeah?”

Keith positively lit up. “Holy shit, I _love_ cuddlin’.” He lowered his voice. “Don’t tell anyone though, or I’ll knock ya sock off.”

“Oh my god. So do I!” Then the cuddles began again.

Hunk sighed. “Okay, you guys wait here. I’ll be right back. Don’t do anything stupid.” He knew it was a risk leaving them alone, but the ones that could get in more immediate trouble right now were Pidge and Matt. What was the worst that could happen?

…

Lance watched Hunk vanish into a world of foggy lights and loud sounds. He focused back on Keith and wiggled his eyebrows. “I’m something stupid, you can do me.” He winked, but for some reason, both of his eyes were closing instead of one. Stupid eyes.

Keith laughed, and it was honestly the best sound ever. He looped his arms around Lance’s shoulders. “Sounds fun.”

Encouraged by this, Lance leaned forward so their foreheads were pressed together. “You’re amazing.”

“So’re you.” Keith smile fell into a sad frown. “Wish I had known you before. Or met you. Or somethin’ like that.”

“You did,” Lance replied, completely perplexed by this. They knew each other.

“Yeah, but even if I ditch him like the bitch he is now, they’re gonna make me bond with Lotor. I’m just puttin’ it off.” Keith looked at him so sadly that it broke his heart.

“It’s not fair,” Lance said, running a hand through Keith’s hair. “You should get to choose.”

The Omega stared him straight in the eyes and declared, “I’d choose you, ya know. I really would. Like I don’t know you all that much, but I gotta good feeling about you. Real good feeling. Trust my gut. I’d choose you.”

Warmth erupted within Lance, and he was pretty sure he could climb Mount Everest and jump off into the bottom of the Marianas Trench (Those were close to one another, right?) with the excitement he felt and the energy coursing through him. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Keith replied, smiling once again.

Lance stared at him, and god, he was _so_ beautiful. He was _everything_ that Lance never knew he wanted in a mate but there they were. “Can I kiss you?”

The Omega’s eyes widened slightly, but then he smiled brilliantly and nodded his head.

Lance closed the distance between them, butterflies erupting in his chest. It was only a clumsy press of their lips together, but it was sweet and amazing.

They broke apart much too soon, and Lance felt something stir in him when he actually saw a glint of tears at the edge of Keith’s eyes. God, he never wanted to see those again. Only happy tears.

“What if it could be me?” He blurted out. “What if I could get you away from him?” He reached up, touching the edge of Keith’s black collar gently before placing his hand on his arm again. It wasn’t polite to touch an Omega’s collar without permission, after all.

Keith seemed completely focused on him. “You can’t.”

“Oh, you don’t want—”

“No!” Keith’s eyes were wide as his hands reached up to his collar. He fiddled with it, and Lance watched as he loosened it. His heart leapt to his throat, and Keith pulled off the suppressant strip that was there before securing his collar again. The difference was that Lance could smell him now. Really smell him. “You deserve better.”

Lance felt lightheaded at the sweet honey scent, leaning against him slightly. He inhaled, and could tell that Keith was being honest with him. He wet his lips and asked, “Don’t I deserve to choose? I like you a lot.”

Something wavered in the Omega. “I like you a lot too.”

Taking a deep breath, the Alpha said, “So what if we did? Bond as mates. But then court each other the right way and work up to it again?”

Keith seemed to be trying to process this and said, “So, courtin’ but we’re already mates?”

“And he couldn’t take you away.”

Breathing in and out, Keith stared up at Lance like he was trying to see through him. God, even though everything was kind of fuzzy and he felt weird, the man sitting with him was still amazing.

Slowly, Keith nodded his head and closed the distance between them again. Lance eagerly returned the kiss, earning the cutest little sound of approval for his efforts. His hands ran along Keith’s side, and he felt something slip out of his pocket.

He pulled away and looked down, grabbing the paper and looking at it with interest. Keith leaned his head and gazed down as well.

He was holding an ad for the Olkarion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PSA: If your drink ever leaves your sight, and you do not have a friend or someone you trust keeping an eye on it, do not drink it. Ever. I don't care how much you paid for it. 
> 
> Also, there is ONE single scene in this whole story that's from someone's point of view that isn't Lance or Keith. It was Hunk's small scene in this chapter. That's it. 
> 
> I now I try to reply to all the comments, but seriously, thank you so, so much! You guys are amazing! If you have any questions or suggestions, or just wanna talk, doesn't hesitate to do so either on here or tumblr!


	7. So, About Our Friends...

Lance struggled to get through his retelling of the story, and there were definitely some gaps, but it felt right, and it lined up with what they were able to glimpse on the security camera. There was really nothing they could do about it though. Sure, the drugs were probably still detectable in their systems, and the police would take Lance seriously, but Lotor was rich. He’d just be able to buy his way out of something like this.

A shiver went up his spine. Lotor really had drugged them, hadn’t he? That was real. He had actually tried to pull Keith away to do god knows what to him. He doubted that the other Alpha would have waited to give him a bondmark.

Though there was also something enlightening about remembering the fact that he and Keith had _both_ agreed to bond with one another. Bond to keep the Omega safe, and then go about the whole courting thing. It was definitely not well thought out, they were drugged, but at least it was an answer.

Keith seemed to accept that easily enough. All of the anger bristling under his skin was definitely directed at Lotor.

They had been nice enough at the casino to allow Lance to charge his phone. Relief shot through him as it finally turned on. They sat on the same fountain as the night before, and Lance waited for everything to load.

Whereas Keith’s phone had been a mess of messages and calls, there was one single call, and only a single message from Hunk. He tried not to be hurt about that, he really did, but it still stung.

He tapped on the message first, and felt all the blood drain from his face. He quickly tapped the phone icon, going to the missed calls. “Oh no.”

“What?” Keith leaned closer to him to look.

There was a single message from Hunk that read, ‘So I’m being arrested’. The missed call was from a police station.

Keith reached into Lance’s coat and tugged out the map that Lance had moved there from his pocket. He looked at the area they were in and pointed a little way away. “There. It’s in walking distance.” He caught the look on Lance’s face. “Saves your batteries from using GPS. I’m actually glad that my phone died.” Lance had been wondering why Keith refused to charge his, since his family might be trying to get a hold of him, but given what he had remembered from the night before, it might be better to leave it dead for now.

He stood up and held his hand out to Lance. “Come on, let’s go get Hunk.”

Lance took a deep breath, calming himself down with a nod. He grabbed Keith’s hand and allowed the other man to pull him up.

Technically speaking, Betas were known for being able to calm down any dynamic since their base scents were so woodsy, natural, and tame. That being said, Keith’s scent lessened the tension in his shoulders as they walked. He would probably be freaking right out otherwise.

They got to the police precinct that had called him earlier fairly quickly. That was probably because they weren’t meandering, trying to get to know one another better. Thinking back on that, Lance felt guilty. He should have tried to check in on his friends _first_ before everything else.

“Hi,” Lance spoke to a woman through a glass window. Unlike in TV shows, a lot of places didn’t just let people wander in and out of police stations. The entrance was surrounded by thick, no doubt bullet-proof, glass. “I’m Lance McClain, and I think someone tried to call me about my friend earlier. His name is Hunk Tui…uh…Henare Tui.”

It took a little while, but apparently the police were willing to let him go (though they had held him this long, which was weird), so whatever had happened could be _that_ bad, right? Hopefully?

Lance practically jumped on Hunk when he left the police station. “I’m so sorry! Are you okay…” He trailed off when he saw something on his arm. “ _Is that a tattoo_?” What the fresh hell?

“Oh man, do I have a story for you,” Hunk said with a groan. He glanced over Lance’s shoulder and blinked with surprise. “Oh! Hey Keith.” Lance tensed up slightly when the other Alpha scented the air and his eyebrows shot up. His head snapped towards him and he said, “Lance…”

“Okay, this _looks_ really bad, I know,” Lance started, not quite sure how to explain exactly what had happened last night.

“Lance!” Hunk exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. “Ugh, I should have tried harder to find you two!”

“I can explain!” Lance assured him and looked over at Keith. “Help me out here.” Keith raised an eyebrow at him and crossed his arms. Shit, why did he have to be hot and distracting? Not helpful at all. “Okay, I can’t _completely_ explain it, but we’re trying to figure out exactly what happened. We think we got most of the night.”

Hunk was still staring at him with stern, disappointed eyes, and okay, that was fair. Lance had marked an Omega that he met the night before, and that was not cool in general.

Then, said Omega stepped forward and came to Lance’s rescue. Bless his soul. “Where are Matt and Pidge?”

That was an excellent question. Lance looked at Hunk, who threw his hands into the air. “I have _no_ idea, and we probably shouldn’t talk about it here.”

“We could go back to my room,” Keith offered.

“You mean _our_ room?” Lance asked, unable to help himself from shooting him a flirty grin. What the hell brain? What was _wrong_ with you?

Keith sighed and rolled his eyes. “No. I meant _my_ room at the Marmora.” He crossed his arms in front of him. “I know my phone’s dead, but I’m still worried about Shiro. He should have replied to me last night or early this morning or something.

I haven’t heard from Shiro yet, and that worries me a lot. He may have broken his phone or something, and I don’t want him to worry too much.”

Oh. Okay, that was fair. “Alright, let’s get a cab, and Hunk can tell us all about his adventure last night.” Whatever had gone down, Lance knew that Hunk didn’t want to say anything too close to the police station. Also he didn’t understand how _Hunk_ of all people had been detained. Pidge or Matt? Yeah, that would make some sense. Hunk though?

Flagging down a cab was not going very well right now, so Hunk decided to start explaining the story anyway.

“Okay, so, I went after Matt and Pidge, leaving you two alone because I thought you’d just harmlessly sit and cuddle.” Hunk glared at both of them, earning not one but _two_ sheepish smiles in return. He sighed. “Anyway, I couldn’t find them _anywhere,_ so I decided to check out the hotel because Pidge said that she needed her laptop. By the time I got there, they were doing stuff on their computers and there was all this extra equipment. I have no idea where or how they got it that fast. I have no idea where or how they got it at all! But oh man, I did NOT want to be a part of that. They were in the rooms so at least they were safe and not on the streets, you know? I decided to come back and look for you two, but by the time I got there, you two were gone!”

“Yeah, sorry ‘bout that,” Lance said sheepishly. “I think we took off pretty quickly.” He narrowed his eyes at his friend. “That doesn’t explain _that_ though.” He motioned to the tattoo again. “I thought tattoo parlours didn’t give drunk people tattoos?”

“They do when it’s owned by the leader of the gang you’re hanging out with?”

“A gang?” Keith dared to ask, looking completely flabbergasted.

The three of them stared at one another before Hunk started rambling, “Well I was wandering around looking for you guys and then I heard an Omega freaking out and there were these two creepy dudes trying to force her into a car. I ended up saving her. Apparently she was some gang leader’s daughter? And they’ve had a lot of their Omegas go missing lately so they really wanted to thank me? I couldn’t say no, the guy was a gang leader! So yeah I hung out with them at one of their clubs? And I ended up drinking a lot, and apparently got some kind of tattoo but I don’t remember that, and ended up in jail for public intoxication?” His eyes were wide. “My Tinā and Tamā are going to _beat_ me.”

“What the _shit_ , Hunk?” Lance didn’t even know what to make of this. It was definitely a Hunk thing to do to step in when someone was genuinely in danger. The getting drunk thing? Getting a tattoo? Definitely not. Good lord.

“You remembered to text Lance when you got arrested,” Keith pointed out almost airily. Lance almost snorted at that.

“Better than the police calling my parents,” Hunk muttered with a wince. “But yeah, I remember nothing else of what exactly happened, and I have no idea where Matt or Pidge are.”

Keith laughed sharply, eyes still scanning for a cab. “So _we_ became mates, _you_ hung out with a gang, got a tattoo, and got arrested, and Pidge and Matt are AWOL and potentially illegally hacking someone?”

“…This is why I didn’t want to talk about it in front of the police station.”

The Omega shook his head, clearly trying to process this as much as Lance was. However, he seemed roll with the punches a lot better than Lance. “You know what? That’s not even the weirdest thing I’ve seen.” He shook his head. “Anyway, do you remember anything from before you left us? We pieced together quite a bit, but I’m not entirely sure…” He trailed off and shrugged.

Okay, apparently Keith was just ignoring what had happened. Lance supposed that was much more productive, and couldn’t help but feel amused as the two of them started rapid fire talking.

“You remember Lance bringing you over to chill with us?” Hunk asked.

“Yes,” Keith answered.

“Creepy dude finding us and running off.”

“Yes.”

“Going to the White Lion?”

“Yup.”

“Creepy dude finding us again and basically trying to kidnap you?”

“I don’t actually _remember_ that, but I saw it on video,” Keith admitted, a bit of an angry growl to his voice. Lance placed his hand on his back, and he relaxed slightly, something that didn’t go unnoticed by Hunk.

“You two were definitely drugged,” he said, looking from one to the other. “I’m sorry. I should have stayed with you guys. That was _so_ stupid of me. I’m so, so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Keith answered before Lance could, though to be fair, he was going to say the same thing. “Hunk, it’s really okay. I mean…if this wouldn’t have happened I would probably already be getting dragged to a bonding ceremony with Lotor. It’s okay.”

Hunk sniffed a bit, blinking his wet eyes rapidly. “That guy sucks. Is there anyway you could get drug tests done or something to get him in trouble?”

Keith snorted. “Wouldn’t work. I’m an Omega. If anything, they’ll say that I was being a tease, or that I’m a slut, because Acxa gave Lotor permission to bond with me, but then I went with Lance.”

Lance tensed at that, his hand sliding from the middle of Keith’s back to his shoulder. “I’d have your back and I would fight that for you. I mean, he’s totally a creepy dick. Though I imagine that’d be one hell of a legal battle.”

Keith shook his head. “We still need to find your friends. I guess we don’t need to go back to the Marmora to talk, right?’

Lance and Hunk exchanged looks, and Lance said, “Nah, we’ll still go there first. They’re probably worried about you. I’m sure Pidge and Matt are fine if they’re not in jail somewhere. Last anyone heard, they were safe in a hotel. We have no idea what happened on your end at all.”

“Well, I mean, Pidge said something about hacking into some kind of network for Daizabaal Industries?” Hunk said, sounding more confused than anything else.

“That’s Lotor’s company,” Keith said in pure awe. “He got it from his father, though his mother has been running it while he fucks off and steals Omegas or whatever it is he does. Ironic, since I’m pretty sure his mother _is_ an Omega. The asshole. Anyway, my sister works there. They have _crazy_ security. I remember her bitching about how her badge didn’t work once and she lost half a day of work proving she is who she says she is and getting new clearance. I don’t even know what they _do_ there.”

Lance whistled lowly. “Wow Pidge, go hard or go home.”

“Don’t worry about her,” Hunk said with a nod of his head. “She once hacked the Pentagon for fun and never got caught.”

Keith mouthed the words ‘the Pentagon’ just as a cab finally pulled up. The three of them climbed in, squishing together, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Lance didn’t mind sitting in the middle. There was something nice about being surrounded so closely by people he cared about.

The Marmora was still quite far from where they ended up, and the streets were crowded, so it was going to take a while to get there.

At some point of time, Keith ended up dozing off, head resting on Lance’s shoulder. He curled up a bit, quiet, warm puffs of air running across Lance’s neck and collarbone. He couldn’t pinpoint when he had wrapped his arm around the Omega, or when he stared playing with his soft black hair, but here he was.

“What are you gonna do?”

Lance looked over at Hunk, whose eye were so worried that it broke his heart to know he made him feel that way.

“What can I do? I mean, we did the whole thing last night. Marking, official papers, the whole thing.” Lance sighed. “I remember enough to know that we both agreed to it. I think the plan was to bond first so Lotor couldn’t demand him back or something, then court from there? We…weren’t in our right minds.”

“How can that even be _legal_?” Hunk asked, brows pinching. “I mean, it can’t be, right? You were both definitely drugged.”

“I drank less than him.” Lance saw that much in the video. “Maybe it wore off of me enough for me to act normal-ish. That’s all anyone would have needed. They wouldn’t have cared if Keith was drugged.”

Hunk hummed unhappily at that, but they both knew it was true. An odd look passed over his face. “Did you guys…you know…” He motioned wildly with his hands.

Lance felt his face heat up. “Yeah.” He thought back to what Keith had told him earlier about his heat and how he couldn’t take suppressants. “He’s really close to his heat too. Lotor planned for that.”

“So he could be pregnant,” Hunk said, lowering his voice even more as he glanced at Keith. “Or get pregnant depending on, you know, ovulation.” His cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

“ _Technically_ , yes,” Lance admitted, and that did something to his insides. On one hand, it was terrifying and one of the worst things that could happen right now, but on the other hand, a part of him preened at the thought. Stupid hormones. “We talked about it earlier. Keith doesn’t think so, but there’s a small chance.”

“Lance,” Hunk groaned again.

Okay, this time the tone hit him the wrong way. He was the _same_ age as Hunk, and yeah, he screwed up, but he didn’t appreciate the belittling tone of voice. “I know I screwed up, but like…it’s weird? I regret being drunk and not remembering right, but…not Keith? Not that it was Keith?”

“You guys don’t really know each other.”

He bristled. “Well aware of that. We’ve been getting to know one another all day. I…I don’t know Hunk. I can’t give up my job, and I don’t want to force him to up and move cause, like, that’s real sleazy, and he already deals with that shit enough. I mean, my family likes to say they’re super progressive – my Mamá asked my Papá to bond with him and they’re all pro-Omega-choice, and here I am in this situation. But Keith is…he’s amazing. I…I want it to work. You might find it dumb, but I really do.” He let out a breath after blurting that all out, scooting just a bit closer to Keith, if at all possible. “Besides, I’m not the _only_ one that did stupid shit last night.” Maybe he shouldn’t have gone on the defensive, because he knew that what he and Keith had done had much more lasting consequences, but he couldn’t help it.

Hunk hesitated, and decided to just ignore Lance’s outburst. “Well I guess you could do long distance and like…meet up for heats and ruts.”

“That sounds like 10 kinds of sleazy!” Lance loved his friend, but holy crap, he kind of wanted to kick him for that idea.

 For his part, Hunk shuddered a bit. “It does. I felt gross saying it.”

Just like that, all of Lance’s hostility was gone. He sighed, shifting a little more. “I don’t completely get it, Hunk, but…I really like him. More than I’ve liked anyone else. And I know some people might say it’s the chemicals and all, but I think I liked him before this happened too.”

“I believe you,” Hunk said after a moment of silence, a small, but genuine smile on his face.

That made Lance feel a little more at easy, because he was telling the truth. He didn’t know how this was going to work, but he wanted to try. He wanted to learn everything he could about this amazing Omega at his side.

Keith shifted a bit, and Lance rubbed his arm just a bit. It actually made him think of something else. “So, does your arm hurt?” Lance asked.

“More like it burns a little bit but it’s not bad, and you know, this actually is pretty nice?” Hunk showed Lance the tattoo that went around his arm and must have taken a while to do. “I guess I got to pick.”

Continuing his conversation with Hunk, Lance didn’t see Keith’s eyes flutter open. He couldn’t have known that he had simply been resting his eyes and had heard the entire conversation. He couldn’t have known the thoughts running through his head (Lance was willing to listen to him, to give him a choice. Most Alphas would have just toted him off somewhere else.).

He couldn’t have known just how much that meant to Keith.

…

When Keith had first seen the Marmora, he had been hesitant to touch anything, because he was sure that a lamp was worth more than his entire bedroom. After being at the Olkarion though, it seemed almost junkie and gaudy. There were too many decorations, and it was all so dark and old looking.

Apparently Keith was a modern minimalist at heart, who knew?

He led them up to his room and fished the key card out of his wallet, glad that he had put it there, or it probably would have been lost. He stopped in front of the door and was about to insert the card, but froze. There was an unpleasant, familiar stench seeping out from the door, which was impressive and terrifying, because these rooms were designed to keep scents inside.

Keith took a step back away from it, gut clenching uncomfortably. Lance and Hunk seemed to catch the scent too (not that it was hard), judging from the way they tensed up.

“Here, let me,” Hunk said, holding his hand out. Keith passed him the card, but he didn’t open the door yet. He frowned and then looked at Lance, before looking back at Keith. “This is going to sound weird, but I need you to try to smell Lance. I don’t…I don’t think _he’s_ here, but he definitely did something.”

It took him a second to understand Hunk’s reasoning. An unmated Omega might be tempted to submit when surrounded by an Alpha’s scent (or worse, prematurely start their heat, though that was intensely hard to do), but a mated one would react negatively. Anxiety, nausea, and panic attacks were all things noted in extreme situations (though this could happen to unmated Omegas that wanted _nothing_ to do with said Alpha).

This was probably one of those ones.

Lance shrugged off his jacket and held it up to Keith. “Here, you can press it against your mouth and nose.”

He took the jacket gratefully, knowing that it would be much easier than trying to keep himself pressed against Lance. He pressed the fabric to his face, instantly feeling a little bit better. Of course, that meant that he could think clearly again, and thinking clearly led him to being even more pissed.

Hunk opened the door and _cringed_ , while Lance actually growled, stepping closer to Keith. The taller Alpha took one look in the room and grimaced. “You’re…definitely going to have to get cleaners in here. I think he scented _everything_ in here.”

“I’m going to _shatter_ his kneecaps,” Keith said, annoyed that the sweater was blocking just how genuinely angry he sounded. He could _still_ smell it a bit, and it was making his stomach churn.

This was ridiculous. Beyond ridiculous. He was _done_ with all of this.

Keith growled and said, “You, come with me.” He grabbed Lance’s arm, dragging him towards the elevator. “Hunk can you wait here?”

“Sure?” Lance asked, willingly going along with him. He looked over his shoulder at Hunk, who just gave them the thumbs up.   
  
Keith only removed the jacket from his face when the elevator door closed. He growled lightly and said, “We’re going to the front desk. You are going to _demand_ they clean that room top to bottom. They won’t listen to _me_ , but you’re my Alpha and another Alpha scented my room. I didn’t give him a key, so they must have.” He was ready to kick ass and take names.

Lance stared at him with wide eyes before saying, “Yes, sir.” Oddly enough, it _didn’t_ sound sarcastic.

They must have exuded a pissed off air, because not only did the man working at the counter sit up very straight, but the manager, as indicated by the golden pin on his chest, seemed to almost magically appear at the employee’s side.

Straightening his shoulders, Lance spoke with a voice that was _so_ stern that it almost startled Keith. “My Omega’s room has been _scented_ by another Alpha. One that was not given permission by either of us to enter that room. I thought it was against hotel policy to give out keys. Room 423. Fix it.”

There was a heavy silence before the manage said, “I was under the impression that we gave a key to that Omega’s Alpha. He showed us the papers he had with permission to bond.”

So Lotor had probably left an impression on them. That was both good and bad. Fixing the man with a stern glare, Lance snapped, “I don’t care about _papers._ Would you _like_ to see where I left my mark? No? Fix this.” His arm went around Keith’s shoulder, holding him close. “He’s very close to his heat and this is unacceptable. My friend is waiting upstairs by the door. He’s an Alpha too, and he _really_ doesn’t like people messing with his friends.”

“I’m really tired now. My brother gave me a key to his room right next door,” Keith spoke up for the first time. He wasn’t much of an actor, but he managed to make himself sound small and upset, hoping to play into their sympathies even more. No one liked a sad Omega. Too bad most didn’t realize that the easiest way to make Omegas happily would actually be to treat them like real people. What a strange concept. “We could always go check in with him?”

Lance nodded his head, running his fingers through Keith’s hair. “That sounds like a great idea.” Apparently he was an amazing actor, because his voice went from soft and sweet to harsh as he looked at the manager again. “That’s where we’ll be.”

Keith let himself be guided back onto the elevator, only dropping their façade when the door closed. Lance snorted and said, “I think they got the message. Jesus, you sounded so…meek.”

He leaned closer to the Alpha, grinning at him. “I won’t lie. That was really hot.” He actually laughed as Lance squawked, his face turning red.

The laughter faded away by the time they got to the fourth floor, and Keith once again pressed Lance’s jacket to his face. Impressively enough, there were already cleaners up there going in and out of the room. Keith had to feel a bit bad for them, because they were almost _cringing_ away from Hunk. He didn’t know him all that well and got why, because he _looked_ intimidating, but he also knew that he wasn’t that scary a guy.

“Hey Hunk!” Lance called out to him as they made their way down the hall. “We’re gonna go into Shiro’s room for a bit, hopefully.”

Keith nodded and knocked on the door that led to Shiro and Allura’s room, though there was no answer. He had an outstanding invitation to come in whenever he wanted (right, like he was going to do that). He tried to get Shiro’s extra key card out of his wallet, but it was difficult to do with only one hand.

Lance chuckled, taking the wallet from him and holding up a card with the hotel’s insignia on it. Keith nodded his head, watching as Lance inserted it into the door, the little green light coming to life as the lock clicked.

The three of them went inside, closing the door behind them.

“It’s safe in here,” Lance said, and Keith passed him the jacket. Bless hotel rooms and being able to block out scents. That said a lot about how they were about to catch it outside of Keith’s room.

He was so glad that they had stopped him from looking in. Alphas could scent things without being gross and using bodily fluids (all it too was to rub up against something really – which was why he probably reeked of Lance to everyone else), but Lotor absolutely was the type that would be nasty about it.

Keith shook his head, because there were more important things to think about. He frowned as he stared around the room. Shiro and Allura were both neat people, but it looked like they hadn’t slept there at all the night before. In fact, Allura’s sneakers that she had taken to wearing lately were still in the room rather than the heels she had been wearing last night.

Had they come back at all?

Pulling out his phone, he cursed when he remembered that he chose not to charge it. He was still reluctant, because who knows if Lotor had done something else to track it, but he _needed_ to find his brother.

Knowing that Shiro had the same phone, he looked for the charger, Keith went over to the beside tables and dug it out. It was still plugged into the wall, so that was a good thing.

Keith’s phone wasn’t exactly brand new, and he knew that it would only start again after he let it charge for a few minutes, and would only connect to data and the internet if it was 5% charged or more. He set his phone down and looked around the room. “They didn’t come back here last night.”

Anxiety ripped through him, and nausea crawled up his body. Something was really, really wrong. This entire time, Keith had assumed that Shiro was hungover, that Allura was with him. They could very well still be together, and Shiro could be hungover, but he thought that they’d be here.

That was a very stupid oversight on his part, wasn’t it? Of course they weren’t here. Keith had told Allura he was fine, he had sent her a selfie earlier, but that didn’t change the fact that he had still vanished on them, and they didn’t know where he was. Oh god, were they out looking for him?

“Hey.” He looked up as Lance placed his hands on his shoulders. “It’s okay.”

“They didn’t come back here,” Keith said, his voice coming out much shakier than he meant for it to.

“We’ll figure it out,” Lance assured him. “Just like I know you’ll help us with Pidge and Matt.”

Keith took deep breaths and nodded his head. He perked up as his phone screen finally came to life. It would only be a few more minutes before he could get his messages.

Those minutes were tense, and it took everything he had not to pace around the room. He rubbed his thumb against his knuckles, noting that Lance was bouncing his leg and was probably as tense as he was, even if he didn’t know Shiro or Allura.

That actually said a lot about him. God, Keith wanted to lean against him and put his head on Lance’s broad shoulders.

Wait, why _couldn’t_ he? Keith was going to do that, when his phone starting vibrating. He positively _launched_ himself at it, startling both Lance and Hunk.

One of them might have said something, he didn’t know. His hands were shaking a bit as he tapped in his password, more missed calls, voicemails, and messages loading onto the screen. There were some from Acxa, some from Lotor, one from his mother saying that she got his message and that Lance was handsome. Most of them were from Allura though. He didn’t bother looking at the messages, choosing to call her instead.

She picked up on the second ring, not even letting him get a greeting out. “Keith? Is that you? If it’s not, and you hurt him, I’m going to kick your—“

“It’s me! I’m okay. I’m back at the hotel, where are you?” He was taken back as Allura let out a sob. She was a fiercely strong woman that tried to keep a straight face to most things. He had seen her tear up before, but not _sob_ like this. “Allura? Are you okay?”

“Oh thank god! I was so worried, but the police wouldn’t listen to me, saying that you had to be gone for so long and I was just a hysterical Omega.” She let out another sob before saying, “Did you say you were at the hotel?”

“Yeah. I’m in your room.”

“Get out of there. Now. Lotor’s been looking everywhere for you. Ao has Acxa, and she sounds really freaked out. I don’t know what’s happening, but you shouldn’t stay there alone.”

“I’m fine Allura. I’m not alone, and Lotor was already in my room before I got there. It reeks of him so bad that you can smell it through the door. I don’t care about him or Acxa. Where are _you_? Where’s Shiro? What’s wrong?” Keith could _hear_ his own voice rising, his entire body shaking as he tried to get himself under control.

When in extreme distress that they couldn’t handle, Omegas had this habit of letting out this god awful shrill sound. He had done it only once in his life. It tended to stop people in their tracks, prompting them to either help the Omega in danger, or to give them a chance to get away from the problem.

It had only happened to him when that Alpha tried to force himself on him (allowing him to slip out of his grasp enough to fight back), and was the reason that he had managed to get away (along with Shiro showing up to help him when he barricaded himself in the bathroom and managed to call him). He was damn close to doing it again.

A warm hand rested on his back, rubbing up and down. He looked up at Lance, whose face was stern, but not intimidating. Everything about _both_ him and Hunk screamed protectiveness, and honestly, it was nice. It was enough to calm him down to stop him from making that horrible, horrible noise.

Allura seemed just as close to it herself. She sobbed again and said, “I’m at the hospital. Shiro—oh god, Keith.”

“Hospital? What happened?”

“Something Shiro drank last night was drugged,” Allura said with a sob. “I knew something was wrong. I knew. When I got back to him he was already acting odd, and then it got worse and you had sent messages to Shiro saying that you were okay so I took him to the hospital, and the doctors are saying that it reacted badly with his medication, but that doesn’t make sense. He doesn’t drink when he takes his medication, or he makes sure there’s a big enough time gap between them. I don’t understand.”

Keith felt like his heart had physically stopped. His mind raced back to the night before, to the clearest images. To Lotor leaning close to him, insisting he take a drink. Shiro picking up the glass and drinking it instead.

Lotor successfully drugging him later in the same way.

He dropped the phone, causing it to clatter onto the bedside table. He could hear Allura calling his name and tried to keep it together, because if he lost it, she would probably lose it. He pressed his hands to his mouth in hopes that no sound would come out.

Apparently Lance had taken him pressing his hands to his mouth as nausea, because he grabbed one of the small garbage cans and held it in from of him with one hand. Keith moved his hands to tell him that he was okay, when his stomach decided that maybe his Alpha had the right idea.

Keith’s eyes burned as he grabbed the bucket and held it close to his chest, vomiting into it. Breakfast and fries may have been good earlier, but now it was _terrible_. He felt tears appearing at the corner of his eyes, and Lance tugging his hair back out of his face. Bless him.

Hunk scooped up his phone and tapped the speaker button. “Uh, hi there.”

“Who are you?” Allura demanded, a hard edge to her voice. “Where is Keith? If you hurt him, I’ll break your spine over my knee.”

Hunk’s eyes went comically wide, and he squeaked out, “No ma’am, no need to break spines. Keith’s fine. A bit upset, but he’s okay. Which hospital are you at? We can bring him over there.”

“We?” Allura asked suspiciously. “Who’s _we_?”

“Hi there,” Lance spoke up. “I’m Lance, he’s Hunk. We’re all friends here.”

“It’s okay Allura,” Keith spoke up, coughing slightly. “They’re fine. Where are you?”

Allura told him the name of the hospital, and then demanded to be taken off of speakerphone. Lance went to call them a cab to the hospital (they were really making a ton of money off of them today). Keith did as she said, leaving the garbage can on the ground as he pressed his phone to his ear. “You’re off speaker.”

“Are you okay?” She demanded. “Who are they? You know the code.”

The code that his family set up to use if they were in trouble and needed an out. It was a simple word that they could work into a sentence, completely unnoticeable by the people around them. Technically, it was for all of them to use if they needed, but Keith was reminded of it more often than not. Allura was given the same treatment when she came into the family.

“I know, and no, I don’t need that. They’re…good people. It’s probably better I explain face to face.” Explaining that he now had a mate over the phone would most likely just rile her up, and he really didn’t want to do that. Plus, if she was right, Lotor could show up at any time. It was probably safer for them to be together.

He promised Allura that they’d be there soon and hung up.

Keith needed a moment to collect himself. A moment to be alone. He went into the bathroom and dug through Shiro’s stuff, _knowing_ that he had a spare toothbrush with him, because Keith had a bad habit of forgetting things like that. He found it with relative ease and worked to get the awful, acidic taste of vomit out of his mouth.

He splashed some water on his face and took a deep breath. He could live with ending up mated to a stranger as kind and considerate as Lance had been with him. That was no problem. Something happening to Shiro though? That wasn’t okay at all. It genuinely made him want to cry.

He blinked the tears that threatened to appear. He had to keep it together. He _had_ to.

It wasn’t until they were outside, waiting for their drive, when he explained exactly what it was that happened, and why he had gotten sick. “Shiro drank the drink Lotor gave to me, and the doctors are saying that it mixed with the medication he takes in the wrong way.” He crossed his arms in front of him. “That doesn’t make sense, because Shiro wouldn’t have been drinking at all if he was worried about that. Lotor’s been looking for me too.” He sighed and shook his head. “This is all my fault. And I dragged you guys into it.”

God, he truly was an awful person, wasn’t he? If he hadn’t been so selfish, if he had just _given_ Lotor what he wanted in the first place, Lance wouldn’t be stuck with a stranger, Pidge and Matt wouldn’t have gone missing, Hunk wouldn’t have been arrested, Allura wouldn’t be worrying so much, and Shiro wouldn’t be in the hospital.

He should have just been a proper Omega in the first place. He wasn’t worth all of that.

At some point his hands had made their way into his hair, tugging sharply as he tried to keep it together, but could feel himself breaking to pieces. He didn’t _want_ to go with Lotor. Maybe if he just took the common issue out of play, things would be okay. He didn’t mean that much to anyone.

Lance’s arms wrapped around him, tugging him close. Keith, being the selfish person he was, leaned on him, taking the comfort that he offered. He really was an awful person, wasn’t he? Lance was an amazing Alpha who didn’t deserve all of this. One who deserved a partner that he genuinely loved and cherished.

He was broken out of his spiralling thoughts as their cab showed up. They silently got inside, Lance once again in the middle, still holding Keith close.

They all jumped when Keith’s phone rang. He took it out of his pocket, staring at the scowling picture of his sister. He sighed and pressed the button, not sure he could feel much worse. “Yeah?”

“Keith!” Acxa’s voice sounded _relieved_. Not in a ‘oh good my investment is still there’ kind of relieved, but the kind he remembered from before this Lotor nonsense, where she actually seemed to care. “Thank god. Are you okay? Where are you?”

“I’m on my way to the hospital. Shiro’s there,” he replied almost listlessly.

“I know, I know,” she said, and if he didn’t know better, he would have sworn that she was crying. Of course, Acxa didn’t do that. People used to say that they were almost like fire and ice – he burned and combusted easily, and she was completely frigid. “And you’re not hurt? Did he do something to you?”

Lotor must have told Acxa about Lance last night. “Lance hasn’t done _anything_ to me.”

There was a pause. “Lance? Who’s Lance? I was talking about Lotor!”

That gave him pause. He blinked and straightened slightly as ire rose up in him. “What, you wanted to be there to make sure that I didn’t embarrass you even more in front of him? Want to make sure I’m a good Omega that bends over for the Alpha _you_ picked? Did you want to watch to make sure that I was a good little investment?”

There was a long pause, long enough that if he couldn’t hear her breathing, Keith would have assumed that she hung up.

Then everything came rushing out. “No! I need you to get as far away from him as quickly as you can!”

What? “What?” Last night she had basically sold him to Lotor, though without monetary gain on her part as far as Keith knew. _That_ part of promising Omegas to others was frowned upon and not allowed, since it went from ‘protecting’ family members to trafficking. That said a lot, since money was the only difference between the two.

He looked over at Lance and Hunk, who were both staring at him with interest. He wondered if they could hear any of this. He focused back on the call and asked, “Enough of the bullshit, Acxa. _What_ is going on?” It didn’t make sense.

“Oh god, Keith.” She burst out. “At first, I genuinely thought it was a good idea. I didn’t believe Allura at all about what happened. Lotor really seemed like a genuinely good person. I only saw the generous, good side to him.” The part that had lured Allura in the first time. “But lately…god, he’s losing it.”

Keith blinked slowly. “Losing it?” He chose to be wary, but his sister wasn’t a great actress. Sure, she had a good poker face, but there was a distinct difference between no expression and forcing yourself to cry while sounding borderline hysterical.

“I didn’t have a choice, because he was going to fire me and take you anyway.” Well, _that_ was new information. “If I gave him permission, I could still see you, still try to help you instead of being completely cut off.” She sniffed a bit. “Lotor’s _so_ mad right now. He took it out on Narti.”

Narti. Wasn’t she the blind one with the really creepy cat? It was a horrible way to remember her, but Keith didn’t claim to be the best person in the world. “What did he do to her?”

Acxa’s hesitation spoke louder than any words could. “She…she won’t be around anymore.”

Ah, so _that_ was what prompted this change of heart, Keith realized bitterly. It didn’t have to do with _him_ at all.  “Did you know? That he was going to try to drug me?”

“No,” she answered. “I didn’t even know that Shiro was being offered more drinks on purpose. None of that was supposed to happen. I didn’t know until Ezor told me. I’m still furious with her.” She took a few deep breaths, and Keith tried to process all of this.

Keith could understand that she had been in a bad spot. That she was just trying to survive. He could appreciate that. That didn’t change the fact that she had been, and was still being an asshole. “Poor you. You feel bad. Shiro’s in the _hospital_.”

She audibly huffed, and Keith just _knew_ she was annoyed with him. He didn’t particularly care. “Listen, what matters is that Lotor’s off his rocker, and he’s gunning for you. He’s going to try and bite you, and I doubt that we’ll see you again if he gets his hands on you.”

A loud, bitter laugh exploded out of Keith’s throat at that, instantly silencing her. “You can’t claim someone who was already marked.”

There was a long pause, and Lance tensed up beside him. Okay, maybe _he_ could hear Acxa too.

“What did you do?” Acxa asked. She didn’t sound disappointed, she just sounded tired. Good. She kind of deserved it.

“I hid from Lotor. Hung out with some really awesome people. Lotor fucking tracked my phone – did you know he was doing that? No, don’t answer that, I really don’t want to know. Anyway, he tried to drug me again, but was forced to leave. I drank half the drink; Lance drank the other half. Then shit either of us barely remember happened, and now we’re mates.”

“You have a way with words,” Lance said with a groan, leaning back in the cab. Hunk laughed at that, but it was a strained sound.

“Oh my _god_ , Keith,” Acxa groaned.

“What? I didn’t drug myself! Lance didn’t drug me! Lotor did.”

She sighed. “Jesus Christ. Alright. You’re heading to Shiro and Allura, right? I’ll be there soon.” She quickly hung up before he could say anything else.

Keith stared at the phone for a moment before looking over at the other two men. “Acxa—my sister—is going to meet us at the hospital.” Arrogant of her to assume that he _wanted_ to see her.

“So, I get the feeling that there’s more to this whole mess than you thought?” Lance asked.

So, so much more. Still, he didn’t fall into that spiralling train of thoughts again. There was something about knowing that his twin _hadn’t_ turned on him _entirely_. What she had done was still horrible, and she had absolutely shattered the trust he one had in her, but he could sort of understand her reasoning behind it. Understanding didn’t mean he had to forgive her though.

In a way, she was a victim of Lotor too, but Keith couldn’t feel too bad for her. Acxa had options. She could get another job. Keith was going to be little more than a breeding mare if Lotor had his way. It was horrible, but a small part of him was actually kind of glad that she was suffering consequences from this too.

Again, he never claimed to be a _good_ person.

He looked over at Lance and Hunk again. “I’m sorry I dragged you both into this.”

“Well, I mean, it’s way more intense than the petting zoo we were going to go to,” Hunk pointed out. “And wherever they are, I’m sure Pidge and Matt are having way more fun than they would be there. And I got a pretty cool tattoo that I would have normally been too scared to get.”

“This is wild, and maybe after this is all over, I’ll freak out more. Right now, I’m just going with it with no regrets.” Lance smiled at him genuinely, before that twisting into a mischievous smirk. “I got some good compensation anyway.”

Huh? “What? Well, I mean, I did win that money last night…”

Lance laughed, and without a though, pressed a quick kiss to Keith’s forehead. “I meant you. Honestly, Mullet, you’re ridiculous.”

Keith felt his cheeks warm up, but he felt like he was burning from the spot that Lance kissed him. He mumbled under his breath and looked down, trying to calm his racing heart.

He still felt awful for dragging them into this situation. He felt like he didn’t deserve any kindness from Hunk, let alone Lance.

That didn’t stop him from wishing that Lance would kiss him for real.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so we now know what happened to everyone except the Holts, and we get some insight into Acxa's motives, which can be defined as ('Okay, you had a reason, but you're still a piece of shit.') 
> 
> I'm surprised no one caught onto the fact that I had Lotor give Keith a drink in chapter two, _put his hand over the top of the glass_ , and Shiro ended up being the one to actually drink it?
> 
> I love putting in throw-away things that actually become not-so throw-away later on!
> 
> Again, thank you so much for all the great feedback! You guys are amazing!
> 
> Also, I'm not sure if anyone's interested now, but if you'd like to chat I DO have a discord account that I rarely ever use! And I'm constantly posting really weird and random things over on my tumblr!


	8. Of Brothers And Sisters

Lance hated the smell of hospitals. There was something about it being _so_ sterile that it made him want to sneeze and cringe away. He lived for the smell of the ocean and his parents’ and abulea’s cooking.

Hospitals made him things like his abuelo dying, or the time his cousin was attacked and ended up with a mate that he didn’t want. At the same time though, they also made him think of when his younger cousins and niblings were born.

His mind trailed off, imagining waiting in a hospital while _his_ child was being born. His whole family would be there, waiting to hear the good news. He wouldn’t necessarily be _waiting_ , of course. He’d be in the delivery room with Keith and—

He internally screamed at himself. They were currently at the hospital because Keith’s _brother_ was drugged, and those drugs reacted badly with medication that shouldn’t have been a problem at that point (which didn’t make any sense at all but here they were).  Picturing the Omega, mate or not, with a round stomach or cradling a child was wildly inappropriate.

Keith led the way inside, heading towards the front desk before stopping and veering off in another direction. Both Lance and Hunk followed him at a little bit of a distance.

The woman that greeted Keith was absolutely stunning. She had dark skin that made her brilliant blue eyes stand out, and her hair was a silvery-white colour that _had_ to be died. She was exactly the type of person that Lance would have flirted with without hesitation. Well, he would have prior to his breakup with Nyma, and prior to Keith, of course. He was a flirt, but he was a loyal flirt, thanks.

The woman hugged Keith so tightly that it looked almost painful. She was a little bit shorter than him, but not that much. She seemed like a physically strong woman too, judging from just how tightly she was holding him.

As he drew closer, Lance could _smell_ how upset she was. It instantly made him want to comfort her, and a quick glance at Hunk told him that his friend felt the same way.

“Hey,” Keith spoke so quietly that Lance barely heard it. “You should sit down and calm down. Stress is bad for the baby, right?”

Wet, blubbering laughter escaped this woman, most likely Allura, before she asked, “How did you know? I only told Shiro.” Her expression turned stern. “Wait, did he…?”

“Of course not.” Keith shook his head. “No, definitely did not. He’d go and steal you the moon if you asked for it. My heat’s coming, and you know how it is with smells.”

She nodded his head. “Of course. That makes sense.” She stepped away from him slightly, hands wrapping around her waist. “He’ll be okay, Keith. The doctors said so. I just…” She trailed off and shrugged almost helplessly. “He takes his prescription every second day. He has for years. I don’t understand how this happened.”

“I know,” he insisted. “I don’t get it either. So much shit has been happening.”

She nodded, and without warning, her sharp eyes turned towards the two Alphas. Her brow furrowed as she moved around Keith, hands moving to her hips as she glared at them. This woman smelled like an Omega, but everything about her demeanor now screamed Alpha. It was kind of terrifying. “Which one do I have to beat up?”

Lance quickly pointed at Hunk, hoping that he understood. This was a survival of the fittest moment.

Hunk smacked his hand down. Apparently the fittest _wasn’t_ him today. “You got yourself into this mess.”

“Don’t call Keith a mess,” Lance blurted out before he could stop himself, sounding more alarmed at the situation than angry. Hunk groaned. He internally groaned. Keith just shrugged, like he thought that Hunk had a point.

He needed to get this back on track. He cleared his throat and sent his most charming smile towards who he was pretty sure was Allura, but his mate was apparently horrible with things like social etiquette and hadn’t introduced her properly. “The name’s Lance.” He winked and pointed finger guns at her. Then he internally screamed again. What was he _doing_?

Allura stared at him for a moment, nose scrunching before she turned to look at Keith. “Really?”

“Ouch,” Lance said out loud.

A smirk spread across Keith’s lips, dark eyes looking towards Lance. “Eh, he’s not bad.” Apparently he was more confident around people he actually did know. That…actually made a lot of sense.

“Are you sure?”

“Well, you’re definitely not allowed to take him out or anything. I don’t wanna be stuck with his debt.”

“Hey!” Lance cried out, throwing his arms into the air.

Allura laughed at Keith. “I suppose that’s fair.” She turned her gaze to Lance again, like she was analyzing every atom in his body. “Well, I mean, he’s cute. And he not Lotor. Ears are king of funny”

Okay, no. If they were going to tease him a bit, that was fine. But not like this. “Hey, I would rather you rip my personality to pieces rather than compare me to that trash! And my ears are fine!”

Allura stared at him for a moment before nudging Keith. “I suppose he’ll do. Much better than the other option.”

The male Omega shook his head before looking at Lance. “That’s the secret for getting on Allura’s good side.” He paused and his face suddenly went red. “Oh—uh—right. Allura, this is Lance, my…mate. That’s Hunk, his friend. This is my sister-in-law, Allura.”

“Well, all things considered, I suppose it’s nice to meet the two of you.” A soft look appeared on her face. “Thank you for keeping Lotor away from Keith. I don’t know the story, but I _know_ you helped. He’s…very much a coward when he can’t manipulate someone.”

Something was nagging at the back of Lance’s mind every time Lotor’s name came up. It had nothing to do with what they were talking about right now, but his brain didn’t care about that. It suddenly clicked, and he said, “Keith and I were both drugged. If we both get tested for it, and it proves to be the same thing that was in Shiro, and Lotor was in both spots, does that mean that mean we could get him charged somehow?” Did this count as getting points with Keith’s family? If so, he’d take it.

Allura’s eyes lit up suddenly. “I hadn’t thought…yes…maybe. It’s take some time for the results to come back but still. Come, we should go talk to Shiro’s doctor and see about that.”

“Hey,” Hunk nudged Lance. “I’m going to go down to the cafeteria and plug in my phone. See if I can get a hold of Pidge or Matt, okay?”

Lance gulped. “Leaving me alone?”

“This seems awfully private,” Hunk admitted. Almost like he could tell that Lance was about to protest, he said, “You and Keith are mates. You’re a part of this now.”

He was right, wasn’t he? Keith was going to be a part of his life no matter what happened from this point. Slowly, he nodded his head. “Yeah. Text me if you reach them?”

Hunk nodded and turned to leave, shooting Keith an encouraging look.

Lance almost jumped when Keith’s gloved hand wrapped around his. He looked at the Omega, who smiled at him so softly that it made his heart leap. “Thank you, Lance.”

He had no idea what Keith was thanking him for, but instead of questioning it, he accepted it with a smile, squeezing his hand back gently. “Any time.”

…

Getting the police involved was going to be a surprisingly tricky thing. Somehow the fact that _Lance_ was drugged seemed to matter more than the fact that Keith was, or that Shiro was and ended up in the hospital.

Keith knew it wasn’t Lance’s fault, he really did. That didn’t stop him from being pissed. He hated how the lives of Alphas were considered more important than the lives of others. God, if he was in a position to do something about it, he would. He wasn’t a politician or a business man though. He wasn’t a rich person, or had the type of personality that could rally people behind him. He was just a guy from a family that was barely getting by, the money left over after his father’s death just enough to keep them afloat. It was why he took what he knew was a pity job from Shiro. It was why Acxa, who was making a very decent living wage, had _so_ much sway over them outside of her dynamic.

Of course Keith’s life _did_ matter to them. They had looked at him like he was a delicate glass figurine that would shatter into pieces if they said or did the wrong thing. Like he was something to be coddled.

Like he was a possession that had been tampered with.

Worldwide, in general, Omegas had the lowest population of the three dynamics after the epidemic. It was a bad strange of the flu with a high fatality rate and no immediate cure. It had impacted Omegas more than any other dynamic, probably due to some biological thing, but many now took it as an example about how they’re weaker.

That being said, it wasn’t like all countries had the same makeup in their population. In America, Omegas did have the lowest population of three, which was why so many laws were slapped onto them. It wasn’t like that in all countries though. In some places they were essentially equals, and though not in a specific country, to some aboriginal groups, Omegas were highly respected and revered.

Keith didn’t need that. All he wanted was to be treated like a person. Like the adult that he was. Yes, he got messed up during his heats. He was tired, sore, a bit anxious, and yes, there was that drive to procreate, but shit, that didn’t define him. That happened for a week every three months (his heats were very regular). Why should that be all there is to him?

He once read a fascinating research study of it online when he was bored once. He didn’t understand what all the specific science mumbo jumbo meant, but he did appreciate that this researcher was looking at it from a completely scientific point of view and not a belittling one. It came down to the fact that Omegas were more prone to anxiety because of specific chemical reactions in their bodies. The pheromones from Alphas actually helped balance that a bit, so in theory, that could be turned into a form of medication. Likewise, Omegas could either calm Alphas, or drive them into a frenzy, and in theory, they could make medication for Alphas to do both.

The problem is that no one would shell out the money for it. The Alphas that were in power _liked_ having Omegas under their thumbs. Of course, it wasn’t all of them. As both Lance and Hunk had proven, there were some amazing people out there.

His mother once told him that so much negativity happened because like-minds found one another. They formed groups that, to them, just proved their point, so that meant that they had to be right. In reality, it was actually a small group that made things suck for everyone else, but the problem was that they were a small but _loud_ group. Of course, it sucked that this minority happened to be the rich, entitled assholes who did impact how things work, and over time, their word impacted others.

In reality, Keith knew he wasn’t any weaker than Shiro, Lance, Hunk, Matt, Acxa, Ezor, Lotor, or anyone else. He wasn’t any less human than them. They were all just built differently for survival in environments that no longer mattered.

Some would argue that it did matter. There were constant broadcasts about dramatic population decreases lately, and it was why things seemed to be getting worse than getting better for people like him. That didn’t necessarily mean anything though.

He sat on one of the chairs in a waiting room, waiting for Lance to come out. The doctors had decided to do both urine and blood tests for whatever this drug was. It sounded nasty, and though Keith had taught himself as much as he could about date rape drugs so he could be prepared for that, it didn’t sound like any of them.

That, in and of itself, was alarming. Especially since, from their descriptions of last night combined with the description of how Shiro acted, it seemed like both Lance and Shiro were obviously drugged, but Keith was worse. It was like it was targeted something in him specifically to make him more pliant and less aggressive.

The implications of that were horrifying. A drug that could make Omegas lose the fight they had in them? It was more than just alarming. Though, if a virus could target a specific dynamic, there’s no reason something else couldn’t too.

Suddenly, the fact that there were Omegas disappearing across the country (The epidemic that’s sweeping the nation!) came back to his mind.

Before he could get lost in that train of thought, he caught a familiar, almost ginger scent that was spicy with just a tint of sweetness to it. He knew that scent better than any other, since it had comforted him through those miserable heats of his teenage years.

Acxa looked absolutely exhausted as she flopped down next to him, and kind of like she wanted to cry. Keith didn’t say anything, waiting for her to speak first. She sighed and asked, “What did you do?” She motioned towards the sample collection lab he was waiting by.

“They’re testing Lance and I for the drugs that hurt Shiro. If they can prove it was the same thing, and Lotor was in both places, they can prove it was him.” He wondered if she knew what drug it was. If she had suggested it, knowing that he wasn’t going to go with Lotor quietly.

“Or Lotor can twist it back around and say it was you,” she pointed out. “You wanting to have some fun, get rid of some nerves before a bonding ceremony. You wouldn’t be the first Omega. Us telling the police that you _didn’t_ want to go through with it would only prove that more.”

“Like you _actually_ care,” Keith shot back at her. Why did she think that she got an opinion on where they were going to go with this?

Acxa’s face twisted angrily. “I _do_ care. You’re my brother! My twin!”

“Your thing to sell, right?”

“I thought I was _helping_ you!” she burst out, startling a few people around them. A nurse glared at them, and her lowered her voice. “I thought it be a good thing.”

Keith crossed his arms in front of him. “Yeah, selling me off to him so that you can still visit from time to time. Without ever once talking to me or thinking about what I wanted with my life. Knowing that I didn’t like him. I get it. I’m an Omega. I might as well be a fleshlight attached to a machine that can create a baby. Nothing else about me actually matters.”

“That’s not true!” Acxa leaned forward, normally straight posture slumping dramatically as she put her hand in her hands. “I thought Lotor was better than this. I really did. He helped pull the company out of chaos when Zarkon vanished. He even allows his mother, who happens to be an Omega, run a lot of it! Of course I thought Shiro and Allura were full of shit!” She took a deep breath, nostrils flaring. “I thought that if you _let_ him court you properly, you’d see that they were wrong. That you’d want to go through with this.” She looked up at him sharply with eyes that were just a bit bluer than his. “I know I was wrong now, but that didn’t mean that you had to go mate with someone you just met!”

“Yes I did,” he shot back. “If this wouldn’t have happened, I would be bonded – as in a lifelong bond – to the person that ‘took care’ of someone that worked for him because he’s having a fissy fit! What did he even do to her? Kill her? Sell her off? She was a Beta, right?” He took a deep breath. “All because _you_ gave him permission to do it to me.”

Acxa was silent, looking away from him, hands curling into fists. Keith stared at her, anger rising up again. He felt like he was about to explode with rage, but also like he was about to throw up. “You do realize _what_ he would probably be trying to do to me right now if that’s what happened, right? If you guys had your way. Abuse. Torture. Rape.” He took a deep breath. “Forcing me to have kids that would either turn out to be exactly like him, turned into free labour if they were Betas, or sold off to the highest bidder. All because _you_ would have let him.”

“You don’t know that.”

Her voice was shaking a bit, like she was just trying to hold onto her façade together, willing to admit that Lotor was mad, but not quite so willing to take blame onto herself.

“Actually, you’re right. That wouldn’t be happening, because I would kill myself first. I mean that. I thought about doing it at the hotel last night.” He leveled his serious gaze at her. “I would be dead right now.”

“Don’t say things like that.”

“I can say what I want, because _you_ clearly don’t give a shit.” He blinked his eyes furiously. “What happened to you? Where’s my sister that stood with me through those shitty foster homes when mom was getting better? The one that I got up to protect during my _first_ heat? The one that protected me in return? Where is my sister that sat with me during my heats, making sure no one would hurt me? The one I made my own language with when we were toddlers? Where did she go?”

Keith had to turn away from her, squeezing his eyes shut and internally screaming at himself to not cry.

He heard a sniffle and looked around to see her head bowed, the fringe of hair that fell over part of her face blocking him from seeing if she was actually crying. He knew she was though. They were twins. He had known her literally his entire life from the moment it began.

Despite the instinctual desire to tell her it was okay, to try and comfort her, he didn’t move or say anything. She had to know that he didn’t trust her anymore, that this was a wound that cut a little bit too deeply to go back. Maybe time would heal it, but the scar would always be there.

“Tell me about him,” she said, her eyes still closed. “Your mate. Tell me about the person who saved you from me.”

Keith eyed her warily, his first thought being that she was trying to get this information for another reason. However, his gut told him that she was being genuine this time. Besides, it wasn’t like he had to go into detail, and he wanted her to know that, even drugged, _he_ had made the right choice for himself.

“Lance is a good person. Better than I could hope to be.” He looked down at his hands. “I don’t know…I just…I actually think I really like him? Yeah, he was using some really annoying jokes earlier, and he talks a lot, and he’s a bit weird, but…I like all of that too for some reason? He doesn’t treat me like the fact that I’m an Omega is the most important thing.” He barked out a bitter laugh. “How sad is my life where I was safer intoxicated with a stranger, than sober with my family.”

Had he ever talked this much before? Keith didn’t think so. He needed to get all of this out. He had to.

Acxa grimaced, but didn’t deny it. It really was twisted in a way, because normally in this scenario, it was the exact opposite outcome. Keith was well aware of this. What was happening with him and Lance, how well this was working out, wasn’t the rule. It was an exception so extreme that it might as well have been a cryptid.

Keith had gotten so, so lucky.

She took several deep breaths, then made a startled sound. “Your heat is coming soon. If you did the bonding, you know, how it’s traditionally done, you might be…right?”

He refrained from pressing his hand to his stomach. “I know. I know. There’s no way of knowing right now.”

“There’s medicine you can get for that. To take in the first 24 hours to prevent it.”

Keith’s head snapped towards her, staring with wide eyes.

Of course Alphas would know that such a drug existed. An Omega had no right to use something like that on their own, to decide if _they_ were ready to carry a pup yet, but an Alpha? Of course Alphas would have an option just in case they weren’t ready for children. Or just in case they were cheating assholes who didn’t use protection in the first plce.

Acxa herself would have no use for that knowledge so it wasn’t really a surprise that she hadn’t mentioned it before, because Ezor couldn’t have children (he had overheard Acxa telling their mother about that). It was always hard to tell when a Beta could or couldn’t conceive since they didn’t have heats, but the lack of a menstrual cycle (an Omega’s came the week after their heat) was pretty telling. Neither of them had been upset by it though. Acxa had mentioned something about maybe fostering someday, but Keith wasn’t sure she or Ezor should be allowed to be in charge of _anyone_ at this point.

Keith stared at her. “What?” What the fuck? He had never heard of this miracle drug before.

Acxa grimaced. “Well, I suppose it’s not a thing advertised, is it? I just remember because they told us about it in our health classes in high school.” The health classes that they split up by dynamics.

His heart felt like it was going to leap out of his chest. “Shit, do you think I could get some here? I mean, something like that would probably need Alpha permission, wouldn’t it?”

Keith knew how this worked. Generally speaking, Omegas needed Alpha permission involving any form of healthcare, but there was some wiggle room with emergencies or smaller things.

Pregnancy was another thing all together. If an Omega got pregnant, their partner had all the say in their health care (both Alpha or Beta). Meaning that if an Omega wanted to get an abortion, they had to get specific permission from the father, even if it was a dangerous pregnancy that could hurt them. Betas that could carry children weren’t treated the same way. Their pregnancies tended to be so much more high risk that they couldn’t wait on permission from a partner if something went wrong.

Betas could have Alpha partners, and those rules never changed, so clearly this was just hypocrisy and control at its finest.

“Lance will get it for me,” Keith said confidently before she could even respond to him.

“Are you sure?” Acxa asked, keeping her voice cautious.

He nodded, perking up when he saw Lance come out of the room, rubbing his arm. A wave of affection rushed through him as he calmly stood up and made his way towards the Alpha, Acxa following behind him.

Lance looked up at him, smiling until his eyes darted to the other Alpha. His smile dimmed a bit, still there to be polite, but not a real one. “Wow. I can definitely tell you two are related.” He not so subtly slipped an arm around Keith’s waist. Not that he minded in this instance, shifting closer to him.

Acxa glowered, eyes flicking down to the hand that was resting on Keith’s hip. “You’re the Alpha that marked my brother. My twin brother. My Omega twin brother.”

Keith was prepared to jump to Lance’s defense, but the Alpha simply raised an eyebrow and said, “You’re the Alpha that tried to sell her twin brother to a psycho against his will.”

Her face faltered, and Keith almost grinned, but managed to keep himself together. He cleared his throat and said, “Lance, this is Acxa. Acxa, this is Lance.” He grabbed Lance’s hand. “Come on, I need you to come with me to the clinic.”

The change in the Alpha was almost instantaneous. Lance went from having a silent staring contest with Acxa to turning all of his attention to Keith as if she never existed. “Are you okay?” He looked Keith over, but not in a creepy way. He was clearly just looking for any injuries.

“Yeah. I’m fine.” Keith glanced at Acxa briefly. He should say thank you to her about this, clearly neither he nor Lance had thought of it, but he didn’t want to. Not yet. Instead, he practically dragged Lance towards the clinic, hoping that it wasn’t busy.

“Woah, Keith. Stop!” Lance dug his heels into the ground and stopped them. “Chill for a minute. How about you _tell_ me what’s up instead of just dragging me?”

Keith turned to protest that, but stopped himself. That’s what he had done here and back at the hotel, isn’t it? Shame instantly hit him. He knew what that felt like, and it wasn’t good. Just because Lance was giving him the freedom to do what he wanted didn’t mean that _he_ had to take advantage of that and push him around.

“Sorry,” he said, shoulders slumping. “I just…partially wanted to get away from Acxa and the sooner we get to the clinic the better. I think?”

“You think?” Lance raised an eyebrow at him, squeezing the hand that he was still holding.

The Omega wet his lips. “So Acxa and I were…talking, and you remember the whole I could potentially get pregnant thing?” Lance nodded his head, browns pinching. “Well, she told me that you can get medicine that, if you take it in the first 24 hours, it’ll probably prevent it. I’d need your permission though.”

“Oh my god!” Lance actually slapped himself in the face with his free hand. “I’m an idiot. I completely forgot that Plan B existed. Yeah. Of course. I mean, it’s stupid as shit that you need _my_ permission, but still yes.”

Keith made a face. “We talked about this already. You basically own me now. I had no right to pull you around like that. Not really.” He let go of Lance’s arm and crossed his in front of him, looking away. “A pet can’t go get their own medicine, right? The owner needs to do it.

He _almost_ yelped when Lance grabbed his shoulders, turning him around to face him. Keith was stunned. This was the single most aggressive thing that Lance had done. It didn’t hurt, and Keith could tell that he could very easily get out of his grip (he wasn’t trying to restrain him by any means, it was more just like his hands were resting on his shoulders now), but he didn’t. The Alpha was glaring at him, and a part of Keith actually wanted to crumble in front of him.

“No. No, don’t you _dare_ compare yourself to that.” He took a deep breath. “I told you about my cousin and what happened. You know what my sister does? I think I mentioned it. I don’t know. Doesn’t matter. She’s fighting for Omega rights. That’s how we grew up. Papá talks about how she wooed Mamá, and they even broke up at one point, but later on got back together, both on HIS terms. I mean, Mamá can be a bit old fashioned at times, but I know he's just being protective.” Lance put a hand on Keith’s cheek, thumb brushing back and forth in a soothing, gentle gesture. “You don’t have to worry about anything like that from me Keith, outside of being oblivious. So don’t even ask me, just _tell_ me when you need to do something but the law is stupid. Okay? You’re not a pet. You’re…you’re my _partner_.”

Keith stared at him, his heart pounding in his ears as he felt something prickling behind his eyes. Lance had been saying stuff like this all day, but for some reason, this was hitting him even harder, since being someone’s partner implied being an _equal_ to them. That was really the only thing he had ever wanted, wasn’t it?

He didn’t think, he just moved. His fingers curled around the collar of Lance’s jacket, and he yanked him down the minute distance between them, closing his eyes as he kissed him.

He knew he had kissed Lance the night before (there was plenty of evidence of that on his skin), but he didn’t really remember it, so did it really count? It didn’t matter. The only thing that did was here and now. Lance was so warm, and his lips were so soft. The Alpha didn’t move for a moment, but shock quickly turned into something much more pleasant tinting his natural nutmeg smell. Keith hummed a bit as Lance returned the kiss, lips brushing against his gently.

It was all so gentle and sweet, Lance’s hands staying on his cheek and arm, that Keith almost melted on the spot.

Seriously, he wasn’t as picky about potential partners as people accused him of being. All he wanted was someone that treated him like an equal. And a guy. Keith was very gay. Lance kind of hit every checkbox on his sadly short list. Also, he was really hot. That was like a four-point bonus there.

What the _hell_ was Keith even thinking? His mind was turning into complete and utter mush.

Lance pulled away first, and Keith almost chased after him, but stopped when he remembered that they were in the middle of a hospital. There were more important things, like getting him those pills so that he could have peace of mind that their intoxicated romp wouldn’t end up with a pup. Not yet. They needed time to go back and fill in all the pieces that they skipped over.

The Alpha chuckled a bit, and Keith opened his eyes. He was pretty pleased with himself to see that Lance’s face was a red as his felt.

“Come on,” Lance said, his voice soft and warm. “Let’s get you that medicine.” He held his hand out. “And for the record, _that_ kind of pulling around? Totally cool with that.

Keith couldn’t stop himself from laughing so hard that he had to stop walking, there were tears in his eyes, and his stomach ached. It was the best feeling ever.

…

Getting Keith what he needed was surprisingly easy when Lance asked for it. Sure, he had his little fantasy earlier about a family, but not now. Now would be the worst time, because they were already doing things so backwards and wanted to get used to one another.

Lance wondered what it’d be like to live in a world where dynamics didn’t exist. Where a bite mark didn’t bond you to one single person for the rest of your life. Sure, some people _did_ leave their spouses, and it wasn’t like they had to be attached at the hip or anything, but there was always that slight instinctual pull that could be ignored until heats and ruts came into play. Then they’d be miserable, and probably for an extended period of time.

That wasn’t even propaganda, that was something that was actually documented over and over again. He always took that as a warning to be responsible, because once you were bonded with someone, that was it. He had been a bit of a romantic at heart, wanting to bond with someone he genuinely loved.

So yeah, it was kind of ironic what ended up happening. He should have been bitter about the whole thing for that alone, but even now, Lance got the feeling that this might just be able to work.

He _definitely_ wouldn’t mind repeating the kiss from earlier, that was for sure.

Lance didn’t once push for that though. Keith, like the little heathen he apparently was, took the pill without any water. Combined with the fact that Keith was fairly certain he wouldn’t have gotten pregnant _anyway_ , knowing that he did something about it was actually a huge weight off of Lance’s shoulders. He couldn’t even _imagine_ the relief that Keith was feeling. He was the one that would have had to deal with the direct consequences of a pregnancy.

It was one worry off of their combined list.

Now they were hovering outside of a hospital door, Keith staring at it nervously. There was another thing that the Omega was worried about behind that door.

“It’ll be okay,” Lance assured him, placing a hand between his shoulder blades.

Keith took a deep breath and nodded his head. A nervous air quite literally hung around him as he reached towards the door knob, but then pulled his hand back again. He turned to face Lance again. “It’s just…Shiro’s always been so strong. I can’t…I don’t want…” He looked down.

“Well, I don’t know him, but I’m getting to know you, and if he has anything in common with you, I’m sure it’ll be okay.” He placed a hand on Keith’s cheek, who reached up and placed his hand over Lance’s, taking a deep breath, and nodding his head.

Before either of them could move, the door flew open. Allura came to a stop, her eyes widening as she looked at them. Her lips parted, though the sound that came from the room didn’t come from her.

“Keith?”

Shiro was a _big_ man. Tall and broad, and rather intimidating with the vicious scar across the bridge of his nose, and one arm made out of _metal_. This entire time, Lance had been picturing a slightly older version of Keith, which actually was kind of intimidating. Shiro was so much more. If Lance didn’t know that he was a Beta, he would have sworn that Shiro was an Alpha.

He was staring at them with tired, but wide eyes, locked directly onto where Lance’s hand was _still_ pressed against the warm skin of Keith’s cheek.

He kind of wondered if it was coded into all of Keith’s family to be intimidating? Even the in-laws. Wait, technically that counted him now. Good to know he was the black sheep here.

“Shiro.” Keith’s voice cracked as he quickly surged towards his brother. “You’re okay. How do you feel? Do you need anything?”

The man’s expression instantly softened, and he reached out to him. “I’m okay. I promise.” He glanced at Lance again. “I think I’d like to know what’s going on though.”

Allura cleared her throat and said, “I’m feeling rather hungry.” She looked at Lance expectantly. “While they talk, would you like to accompany me to the cafeteria?” She raised an eyebrow at him, clearly not taking no for an answer.

Oddly enough, this seemed to relax Shiro the slightest bit, though Lance supposed that his mate being willing to go with him alone somewhere was fairly telling. He nodded his head, and the two of them left the room, closing the door behind them.

Allura led the way to the elevator, waiting until it was moving to start speaking. “Keith has always been very independent.”

“Huh?” Lance blurted out before he could stop himself.

She crossed her arms and looked at him with the same kind of harsh look at he recognized from Keith. Did they have lessons on how to be intimidating when you joined the family or something? “He’s strong, but Lotor…Lotor is a monster. Keith doesn’t even know how much. He tells you everything you want to hear, until you go against him. He makes everyone else think that you’re the crazy one.”

“He seems pretty obviously crazy,” Lance blurted out before he stopped himself.

“That would be because Keith’s been his normal stubborn self,” she smiled a bit. “In our high school, they paired up incoming freshmen with seniors as sort of a buddy. Shiro was mine, and years later, I was Keith’s. I’ve known him for a very long time.”

Lance hunched his shoulders a bit as the elevator stopped and they got out, walking towards the cafeteria. He was waiting for the other shoe to drop, for her to start lashing out at him.

“I don’t think I’ve _ever_ seen him look at someone like that before.” That startled Lance into looking at her. “He was fond of his past boyfriends, but he keeps looking at you like you’ve hung up the sun.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’d best not hurt him.”

“I’m going to try everything in my power not to,” he assured her honestly.

“I should hope so. I—Acxa.” The last word escaped Allura’s mouth as an angry hiss. Lance caught sight of Hunk in the cafeteria, talking on his phone at a corner table, but Allura dragged him after her to where Keith’s sister was sitting.

Acxa looked up when they approached, and Allura ripped into her. “You have some nerve, showing up here after all that you’ve done.” Holy hell, she was _terrifying_ to listen to, especially since she wasn’t even yelling. Her tone of voice was low and deadly, making Lance want to dodge for cover.

“I needed to talk to Keith,” she said, her eyes flitting over to Lance. “Though maybe he wasn’t the person I should have approached.”

“Funny, that’s what started this whole thing, isn’t it?”

Holy shit, Allura knew how to come for someone ruthlessly and did not hold anything back. Teenage Lance would have been marked down as both horny and scared shitless. Present Lance was in awe and scared shitless.

“I don’t mind listening to her for a minute,” Lance spoke up, not quite sure what prompted him to do it. “But I’m not hiding anything from Keith.”

She eyed him before nodded her head. Allura huffed through her nose and said, “You have until I get my food and come back to talk.” It took Lance a moment to realize that she was talking to Acxa.

There was something funny about the fact that, out of a group consisting of two Alphas and an Omega, the Omega was the most intimidating.

Allura walked away briskly, and Lance took a seat down, eyeing Acxa. This was his sister-in-law. The one that had betrayed her own twin.

Acxa looked down at the table, fiddling with her phone. “When our father died, our mother went into a bit of a…well…she had depression. The courts decided that she needed help, and that we had to go to a foster home. We were nine.” She looked up at him. “I got quiet and shy. Keith wasn’t loud, but he took no one’s shit and stood up for us. We all thought that he’d be an Alpha. He was strong, never backed down. Even if it got him into trouble.”

Lance stared at her as she spoke. Yeah, he could see that in Keith even now. It made sense.

“We went through different homes because the courts thought our mother needed more time to heal. She’s an Omega after all. Shiro worked for the Garrison at the time and came to our class for a presentation. He recognized our last name as his father’s and was curious. Turns out his father and ours were one in the same. His mother, a Beta, was already a foster parent, and agreed to take us in. Keith looked up to Shiro so much, and never cared that he was a Beta. Maybe that was why I never liked him much. I thought he was taking _my_ brother away from me.”

“You can tell he cares a lot about him,” Lance said.

“If Shiro got lost in space, Keith would find a way to chase after him,” Acxa said without hesitation. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get to stay with Shiro long. There was an accident. His mother died, his arm was gone. The courts wouldn’t allow us to stay with him alone. We were put in another house, and we were there when Keith presented as an Omega. Not unheard of for a 13-year-old but—“

“Jesus, he was 13?” Lance cut in, unable to stop himself. That’s true, it wasn’t unheard of, but it was definitely at the younger end. No wonder Keith was so confident and sure about his own cycles; he had been dealing with it for almost ten years. “Wait, why are you telling me this?” This was the woman that had _betrayed_ her own twin. He didn’t care if she had her reasons, it was still a shitty thing to do.

“So you know.” Acxa stared at him sternly. “That family was horrible. They never tried to do take advantage of him or anything. They were assholes, and he was the outwardly stubborn one. So when he was in heat, they took advantage of that and would rip into me.”

“And you know what he did? He got up and told them off. He protected _me_ while he was experiencing his _first_ heat ever. I presented as an Alpha within days of that, which is much less common for a 13-year-old, especially a female like me. Doctors figure that Keith triggered it – my instincts to protect him. I’ve done it ever since, except, he’s _strong_ and he doesn’t _really_ need it.” She looked down. “Mom eventually got custody of us back about a year later, we only saw her on visitations from the age of nine to fourteen. She even invited Shiro to live with us as well, and cares about him like another son. I don’t see how Keith could forgive her so easy for what she did.” She shook her head. “I didn’t trust her. I didn’t like Shiro. I knew that I was the Alpha, that it was up to _me_ to protect _my_ brother. We were getting older, and suddenly there weren’t any laws protecting him from Alphas around. It was like open season.” She was exaggerating some, but Lance understood what she was saying.

“So you set him up with the first rich Alpha that came sniffing, even if he was sniffing for the wrong reasons? Keith told him about him and Allura.”

“No. I let Keith do what he wanted. Signed things when he asked. He could pretty much do anything. Then he went to an Alpha’s house under the pretense of hanging out – maybe slowly starting to court. That didn’t happen. The Alpha tried to bite him. Tried to force him to have sex with him. Almost did. Keith managed to lock himself in the bathroom and called Shiro. That Alpha basically got a slap on the wrist for what he did. He even stalked him afterwards, threatening to do it again. Until he got bored and took someone else. She was the same age as Keith. I think they have two children now, expecting a third maybe?? I saw them from time to time at home.”

Lance wanted to vomit at that. God, why was she _telling_ him all of this? This was something that Keith should be sharing _if_ he wanted to. Lance was about to point this out when she said, “I swore I’d never let him feel that type of pain again. So I did what I thought was right to actually give him a good life.”

“Yeah, you did everything but talk and listen to _him_ ,” Lance snapped back at her, slapping his hand down on the table. “You had no right to tell me any of this. It should have been him. What are you trying to do? Get on my good side? Hope I’ll make him forgive you? Fuck no.” He stood up. “Thanks for the talk, sister-in-law, but I really don’t care what you have to say. If Keith wants to tell me these things, he will, and I’m not going to do _anything_ to hurt him.” Lance stood up, staring at her sternly.

“Lotor’s not going to stop,” she said.

Lance made a face. “What can he do? I hate to say it, but I have _all_ rights to Keith now. We had a legal bonding ceremony. More importantly, we actually bonded to one another.”

“He _killed_ a friend of mine, a woman that worked for him, a woman that was loyal but that he was suspicious of. What do you think he’d do to the person that ‘stole’ his Omega? To the Omega that ‘embarrassed’ him?”

Lance stepped away from her, turning and walking away. God, he needed to get a drink. This was all too much. Far too much.

Lance’s mind rushed over everything Acxa had told him. God, he was so, so glad that he wasn’t an Omega. He wasn’t sure he could be half as strong as Keith was in the face of everything. He was also glad that he _knew_ his siblings would never do something like this to him, and he’d never do it to them. Acxa may have been sorry, but that didn’t change what happened. That didn’t change what _could_ still happen.

Once he had his drink, he turned around, coming face to face with Allura, causing him to jump. How the hell had she snuck up on him with her heels?

“I heard the end of your conversation with Acxa,” she said, expression softer than anything else that she had directed at him in the past hour or so. “I guess you’ll do for Keith.”

He laughed a bit at that. At least he could potentially get along with one of his in-laws.

 “Lance!” He looked around to see Hunk waving at him from the corner.

“I’ll tell Keith where you are,” Allura said with a small smile, leaving to go back to Shiro’s room with the food that she collected.

Lance flopped into the seat across from Hunk, relaxing in the familiar company of his best friend and packmate. God, he wanted to go to sleep. He didn’t think he could take much more. “What’s up?”

“Just a second,” Hunk said into his phone, excited eyes turning to Lance. “I finally got a hold of Pidge and Matt. They didn’t answer earlier because they were, quote unquote, busy.” 

The relief that rushed through Lance was almost tangible. He sighed, shoulders slumping as he asked, “Where are they? Are they okay?”

“They say they’re fine,” Hunk assured him with a nod. “So, I told them everything that’s been happening on our end, and holy crap, Lance, you won’t _believe_ what they found. Huh?” His eyes looked back towards the phone in his hand. “Okay. Here. Pidge wants to talk to you.” He unplugged his phone and held it out.

Lance scooped it up quickly, pressing it against his ear as he sat opposite of Hunk. “What’s up, Pidgey?”

“Holy _fuck_ , Lance!” Pidge burst out immediately. It was such a relief to actually hear her, to know that she was okay and someone hadn’t spent the night drugged while getting a mate, or hanging out with a gang while getting a tattoo and ending up in jail for public intoxication. “You won’t believe what we found. Okay. So like, hacking Lotor was easy as hell, and though this guy is definitely into weird things and is a psychotic, there’s nothing interesting at all there. Not really. I wasn’t good with that. So, naturally, we purchased more equipment with our bounty from the casino, right?”

“Of course.” Lance was humouring her, and they all knew it. He knew _nothing_ about programming.

“Right, so I decided to take a look at Daizabaal Industries, and after some digging, holy shit, Lance, they are up to some _sketchy_ shit. No, not sketchy. Downright disgusting and disturbing.”

He opened the drink that he had bought and took a sip. “Like what?”

“Like manifests and proof that they are kidnapping and trafficking Omegas.”

Lance sprayed his drink out all over the table, causing Hunk to jerk back away from him. He coughed and spluttered, setting the can down and going for the napkins that weren’t wet. “Sorry, sorry. What the _fuck_?” A woman walking by gave him the stink eye, but he didn’t care. His heart beat in his ears as his eyes watered. What the hell?

“I’ll get some more napkins,” Hunk said, leaping to his feet. Bless him, honestly. Lance was having too much of an internal spasm right now. What could he say, he was naturally dramatic and thrived in it.

“I know!” Pidge exclaimed loudly, apparently not caring about what was happening on her end. Now that he thought about it, it sounded like there was more than one person with her. “I mean, you see conspiracy theories all the time online, but we found actual proof, Lance. I can’t even talk about how huge this is like this. We need to meet up. Maybe at the hotel?”

“Maybe.” Lance felt like he was going to be sick. Was it too late to just go home and forget this vacation happened? He looked up as Hunk came back, and they cleaned up the mess that he had made.

“Oh, right.” He didn’t like the change to her voice. “Hunk hung out with a gang and got a tattoo, and you banged Keith.”

“I didn’t—well I did but that’s not what…Pidge!” Lance’s face went red. Good god, someone needed to control her.

“Relax, I—what Matt? I—hey! Give me my phone!”

There was some scuffling and then Matt came on the phone. “Lance!” Instantly, the Alpha was on guard. He didn’t like his tone of voice. “Lance, go find Keith _now_. I’ve been tracking Lotor’s phone along with everyone else to try and find everyone – yeah I know it’s creepy leave me be for now. Lotor just got in the hospital and his signal is really close to Keith’s. He’s probably still tracking him too.”

Lance’s entire body tensed up. He dropped the phone onto the table, nearly knocking over his drink as he _ran_.

Lotor wouldn’t let go of what happened. He had killed someone before. He was running an Omega trafficking ring. Acxa had been right, just because Lotor couldn’t mark Keith, didn’t mean that he wasn’t dangerous.

No, he was more dangerous than any of them could have guessed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is longer than most others, but it's also more dialogue filled than any others yet because SO MUCH IS HAPPENING. They finally all had one central place where they could be. So many conversations. Also, take this as a definite no, Keith's not pregnant. No babies. 
> 
> And the Holts are alive and got up to some SHIT. Good job at everyone who picked out where I was going with the missing Omegas! Always look for small things.
> 
> Over on my tumblr I made a note that updates might be coming slower than before. I've been having discussions on discord with Fairia that made me come up with better ideas so where I was almost done writing this story, I've gone back starting with this chapter and I'm making it better. So, longer waits, but better story, and definitely more chapters than 15. Not sure how many, but more than that! 
> 
> And finally, holy crap I can't believe all the people that commented and everything! Thank you so much! I just might cry!
> 
> There was also the suggestion to maybe start a discord server for this? Though that seems a bit strange for me and I'm not sure anyone would be interested in that? What do you guys think, you're the ones that read this!
> 
> As always, if you have any questions or want to ramble on about ideas, don't hesitate! You can get me on tumblr, or discord if you ask for my user ID there!


	9. Stay Or Go

Relief washed over Keith as he hugged Shiro, actually able to take in his warm, familiar scent. God, he hated that today had been an emotional roller coaster, because a part of him really wanted to cry. He took a deep breath, leaning back away from him and sitting at the chair beside his bed. “Are you okay?” Wait, he asked that already, hadn’t he?

“I feel a little sick, but nothing bad. I should be able to go soon. I’m just confused about what happened.” His eyes darkened, smell souring. It was always harder to catch a Beta’s scent, but once you knew them well enough, it was just as easy as picking up on different emotions they felt. “Allura said that Lotor tried to drug you and I ended up drinking it. That the doctors said that drug, along with all the alcohol, and my antidepressants are what did it.”

Keith shook his head, not understanding. “But you didn’t take them.” He _knew_ his brother. Shiro would never have drunk any alcohol if he had taken his medicine.

“I didn’t,” Shiro agreed with him.

There was this thing they did sometimes, when Shiro mostly worked as a private investigator before having to take less and less cases to help Allura with Altea Inc. He would start his thoughts, and Keith would finish them or fill in the blanks. If it matched up with what Shiro was thinking, then the man knew he was on the right track.

Keith _could_ take that as an insult, but he chose not to, since he knew Shiro didn’t mean it that way.

So, naturally, Keith continued on with his thought. “So if you didn’t, and they were purposely giving you more drinks to make you extra drunk so that Lotor could…so that he could take me without you getting in the way.” He trailed off.

“Exactly.” Shiro nodded with a grimace. “It was apparently the _drug_ that really messed with my meds, so…”

“Someone gave them to you without you knowing, hoping that you’d be really out of it.” He felt the distress rise up within him, and he actually reached out to grab his brother’s arm. “But that—that could have _killed_ you.”  
  
“It could have. That’s why…”

“It was on purpose,” Keith breathed out. He let go of Shiro’s arm, hiding his face in his hands as he fought viciously to keep control of himself. “Oh god. Shiro. I’m so sorry.” This was all his fault. It was his fault that Lance was stuck with him. It was his fault that Pidge and Matt had run off. It was his fault that Hunk had gone off on his own and ended up with a gang and a tattoo. It was his fault Allura, who really shouldn’t be stressed right now, was so stressed. It was his fault that Shiro could have died.

He felt like he wanted to curl up in a ball and die.

“No.” Shiro’s voice was stern, prompting Keith to look up at him, glad that he managed to hold back the tears threatening to fall. “None of it was your fault. None of it.” He reached out, and Keith once again surged forward to hug him.

There were few people that Keith was actually okay with when it came to physical touch. It was partially why he was so surprised as his willingness to basically curl up on Lance at any given moment. Then again, Lance smelled really good and gave great hugs, so there was that.

Shiro’s entire body suddenly tensed. His hand went up Keith’s back to his exposed neck. “Where’s your…” He trailed off as his fingers brushed against a telling mark, prompting Keith to shift away from him.

Shiro was staring at him with wide eyes, mouth opening and closing slightly as his brain pieced together the obvious clues. “Who was that in the hall with you?” His voice was cautious and guarded. Here we go. Keith had known that this wasn’t going to necessarily go well.

“His name is Lance McClain, and, uh…he’s my mate?” Keith shifted under the disapproving stare.

“Your mate?” He said the words like they didn’t make sense, or were said in a foreign language. “You don’t have a mate.”

“Uh, yeah, I kind of do.”

Shiro ran his hand over his face and through his hair, staring up at the ceiling for a moment. He blinked and looked at Keith sternly. “Your heat is coming.”

“Yes,” Keith answered, not expecting that. Already, he got a bad feeling about this conversation.

“You’re going to be _miserable_ without him.” It took Keith a moment to realize that Shiro meant Lance, and then he pieced together exactly where this was going.

He sighed, crossed his arms in front of him and looked away. “Not if I’m not _without_ him.”

There was a long, heavy pause that felt like it was choking him. Keith squirmed on the spot as Shiro stared at him, and almost said something else, when his brother said, “You’re going back with him?”

“I…I don’t know. We haven’t talked about it.” Keith shifted in his seat. “It’d make the most sense though.”

“The most—“ Shiro inhaled, and Keith could almost hear him saying ‘patience yields focus’ in his head. The Beta looked like he wanted to stand and pace, but he had to stay in the bed. “Keith, he is a stranger.” Keith opened his mouth to protest, but Shiro stopped him. “Yes, I know he bit you. I know he seems like a good guy right now, but that doesn’t mean anything.” He took another deep breath. “How did this happen?”

Keith wet his lips again and then launched into the same story about everything that had happened. He felt like he could recite it in his sleep by this point. Maybe he should just record it on his phone to play when people asked.

By the time he was done, Shiro looked like he wanted someone to knock him out again. The Beta struggled to find the right words for a moment before saying, “I’m sorry, Keith.”

The hell? “For what?” Keith raised an eyebrow. “You were unconscious in the hospital.”

“Exactly!” Shiro looked up at him. “I could have stopped this.”

“Then Lotor would have taken me.”

“I would have hid you!”

“You would have been arrested Shiro. He had permission from Acxa.” Keith shook his head, stomach twisting. “I know this seems stupid, but this is the best thing that could have happened.”

“Keith, you barely know him, and you’re thinking of going with him?”

Keith knew that. He really did. There was no way that he knew everything about Lance already, and Lance definitely didn’t know everything about him. It was going to be difficult, but they had to try. He bristled a bit, and snapped, “I’m not stupid, Shiro! I’ve been getting to know him. He let me choose. He has a real job out there. He can’t give that up.”

Okay, his temper was already starting to show a bit. He had to calm himself down a bit.

“But _you_ can?” Shiro shot back. “You can give up _everything_ to go with a stranger?”

A low, agitated growl escaped Keith without meaning to. For as passive as people said Omegas were, they also had a noted viciousness to them when it came to defending their families. There were few people more dangerous than an angry Omega when their pups were in danger. Keith didn’t have pups yet, but he wasn’t going to accept this either. “Would you stop saying ‘stranger’, Shiro? You met people in your first day of university and decided they were your best friends after that!”

“They weren’t asking me to drop everything to go to the other side of the country!” Oh, Shiro was losing his temper back. This didn’t happen often. The last time Keith had seen it, it involved a professor named Slav.

Keith ignored that for a moment, wanting to make his point. “We haven’t even talked about it yet! Not…really. Kind of. Sort of. We’ll get to it! But I’ve been with Lance all day and he’s not exactly a stranger anymore. Not really.”

Shiro took a deep, calming breath. “Have you told Krolia? That you’re doing the one thing you swore you wouldn’t do? Did you even think of giving _me_ your notice for leaving? I am your boss too.”

“Would you listen to me! I don’t _know_ if I’m leaving yet!” Technically speaking, Keith wasn’t actually supposed to be on the other side of the country from his mate. Despite his protests of using the terminology, Lance legally owned him. If something were to happen to Keith, and he needed to go to the hospital, they would have to try and get a hold of Lance in another timezone. Keith would probably be sent back to him.

Honestly, the thought of getting out of their dusty little home was both frightening and invigorating. He kind of liked the idea of going somewhere new. He kind of liked the idea of going with Lance. They really needed to talk about it more.

He tried so, so hard to reign in his temper up to that point. Now he felt it all come tumbling out. “Of course mom knows! You think I’m _that_ stupid? That selfish that I wouldn’t tell my _mother_? Why are you treating me like I’m an idiot, Shiro? I’m an _adult!_ And you know that’s just a pity job! You’ve been losing money on me! If I want to go off to the other side of the country, I’m allowed!”

“Technically, you’re not.”

Keith froze. He knew _exactly_ what Shiro was talking about. How could he not? It was his entire life. The life, Shiro had told him time and time again, that didn’t define who he was.

He tried to hide the hurt in his voice, and instead, it came out loud and angry. “So now you’re throwing the fact that I’m an Omega back in my face? After helping me all this time?” He may have been right, Keith was limited to what he could do without permission, but he had never used it against him like this before.

“No! I’m trying to keep you safe! I don’t want some random Alpha isolating you from the rest of us! Taking you from us!” Oh god, were those tears in Shiro’s eyes? Keith couldn’t deal with that. He really couldn’t.

“If this wouldn’t have happened I would be gone already! You wouldn’t have been _able_ to hide me, Shiro. You wouldn’t. Acxa owned me, then gave Lotor the green light to do whatever he wanted to me! I already had this conversation with her! You _know_ what he would have done to me. I would have rather died Shiro. Isn’t this better than dying, even if it means I should probably go across the country? You _know_ Lotor only paid attention to me because you “took” Allura from him, so he wanted to take me from you. He’s that petty. Where would I be safer? Where he knows I live, or with thousands of miles between us.” He couldn’t stop his voice from cracking like he was still a preteen.

The silence that followed was _worse_ than the earlier one, and it took everything Keith had to not curl up into a ball and give into the urge to cry. He was _not_ that weak.

Shiro was breathing so heavily that his shoulders were heaving. His arm fell to his side, and his voice was barely a whisper. “I wanted you to feel safe, to be happy, to have a choice.”

A whimper left Keith before he could stop it. It wasn’t a wail or anything, but unlike how Betas could ignore and resist the pheromones, the sounds that Omegas and Alphas made could absolutely impact them. Alphas could make them cringe away or back down. Omegas could make them want to protect and help.

Shiro visibly calmed at the nose.

“You know the first thing I felt when I realized that Lance wasn’t going to force me to do anything?” Keith choked out, unable to stop the tears that burned in his eyes. “I felt free. You’re not losing me, Shiro. But you will if I stay. You’re my brother. I love you.”

Shiro lurched forward, pulling Keith into a tight hug that the Omega willingly leaned into. He felt tears fall onto his head, and that just made his finally fall in turn.

“I’m sorry,” Shiro muttered. “I’m sorry for what I said. I’m scared.”

“I am too, but not of Lance,” Keith assured him.

The two sat silently, hugging one another as tightly as they could. If there was one thing that would never change, even if they were almost on opposite sides of the country, it was how much Keith loved his older brother. It eclipsed even what he felt towards his own twin, especially now. Yes, he and Acxa had always been together, but when he met Shiro, it was like something had just clicked.

“You should probably talk to him about it sooner rather than later,” Shiro muttered.

Keith nodded and pulled away from him. “Yeah, I know. Heat coming up and all.” He couldn’t help but smile and eyed his brother. “And if I go, I’ll have to find a way back in a few months, right? I need to meet my nibling.”

His distraction worked, and Shiro, despite everything, positively lit up. Keith knew that he and Allura had wanted a pup of their own for a while now, but it was hard for Betas to have children, even with Omegas. It was entirely possible, but again used as a reason to keep promoting the image that Omegas belonged to Alphas exclusively.

Morbid thoughts aside, he was really happy for Shiro and Allura.

“She told you?” he asked.

“My sense of smell is better right now. I could tell.” Keith smiled at him. “But she did say I was right.”

“I’ve been _dying_ to talk to you about it,” Shiro admitted. “Though I _probably_ should ask Allura what’s okay to talk about and what she wants to keep between us for now. You know?”

Keith had always admired Shiro and Allura’s relationship. They weren’t just a couple, they were a team, they were partners. They reminded him of what he remembered of his parents.

Maybe that was why he reacted so strongly to Lance saying those words to him. Just thinking about it made something warm well up within him. Keith knew that bondmarks didn’t automatically make you care about your mate, they didn’t make you forget about their flaws or anything, so he knew that whatever these feelings were, they were his own. And he was really feeling like he wanted to find Lance to talk about their situation more, now that he knew Shiro was okay.

“I’m going to go find Lance and Allura,” Keith said, standing up straight. “I’ll send her back here. Do you know when you’ll be able to get out?”

“Not for a few days,” Shiro said unhappily, already looking rather tired. “They need to do a psyche eval, just in case. They need to keep an eye on a few things, but so far it’s looking okay.” He looked at him. “So we’re not going home tomorrow. I’ll get Allura to see if we can get our rooms for a little while longer.”

“Or new ones,” Keith said with a frown, thinking about how thoroughly Lotor scented his room. Shiro didn’t need to know about that though. He headed towards the door, thinking about how, maybe if they managed to shrug off Lotor, he could spend a few _normal_ days with Lance and his friends.

Closing the door behind him so that no loud sounds would disturb his brother, Keith headed down the hall towards the cafeteria. He was close to the stairs when the door flew open, and his stomach dropped, his entire body freezing as he came face to face with Lotor.

“Keith.” Lotor’s lips twisted up into a smirk. “I’ve been looking for you.”

“And I’ve been avoiding you,” he replied without any thought, shifting away from him. God, could Lotor’s scent reek anymore? Did he purposely do something to make it stronger? Keith had always felt that little tiny part at the corner of his brain screaming ‘submit’ around him before, but it wasn’t there now. Instead, he was becoming oddly agitated and almost nauseated instead, because he was being corner by an aggressive Alpha that was _not_ his. Lotor was still very much commanding and it made a part of him want to back away from him, to hide and get out of the way.

Lotor looked like he was about to respond, but then froze, his eyes focusing on Keith’s neck. He squirmed a bit, and his hand subconsciously drifted up as if to check if something was there. All he was met with was bare skin so he didn’t know—oh. That was the problem, wasn’t it?

An unmated Omega _never_ went out without their collar on. Keith didn’t even know where his was. He hadn’t thought about it at all.

Lotor narrowed his eyes, pupils dilating as he suddenly surged forward. Keith backed up quickly, biting back a yelp as he was jerked around and shoved into the wall, grimacing as Lotor roughly tugged his hair up and pulled his collar down.

“What is this?” Lotor hissed with a growl threatening to escape him. Keith struggled against him, but god, he was strong. Why the hell were they alone in a hallway in the _hospital_? That didn’t make sense at all.

“Get off of him!” Allura flew out of nowhere, slamming her heavy purse into Lotor’s head. The Alpha quickly staggered away as she enraged screech attracted the attention of the staff that were apparently just around the corner.

Allura was _seething_ as she stood between the two men, glowing up at Lotor without an ounce of fear. “As you’ve clearly seen, you have absolutely _no_ right to be here, cornering a mated Omega while he visits his sick brother.” Her voice was louder than it needed to be, clearly trying to attract as much attention as she could.

Except, all Keith could focus on was the way Lotor looked from one of them to the other, more rage bubbling up in his eyes. Of course, they were his failed conquests, standing together to rub that in his face.

Completely on edge, Keith stepped around Allura, pushing her behind him gently. If Lotor lashed out at either of them, it was going to be him. He wasn’t the one expecting a pup. “You need to go, now.”

“You have no right to demand anything from me, Omega,” Lotor replied swiftly and dangerously.

Keith wasn’t quite sure what to do. He didn’t want to physically fight Lotor in a hallway in the hospital. Someone else could get hurt. He also didn’t want to attract Shiro’s attention from the room. This type of stress couldn’t be good for Allura either.

“Go to Shiro,” Keith whispered to her. Allura’s eyes widened and she was about to protest, but he said again, “I can handle him. Go to Shiro’s room.” There was a nurse at the end of the hall speaking on a phone, staring down at them. Hopefully she was calling security.

The other Omega frowned before something else caught her eye and she nodded her head, swiftly ducking out of the way, leaving Keith to confront his tormentor in the hall.

…

Lance liked to say that he was a strategical person. That he could analyze a situation before throwing himself headfirst into it. Except, sometimes that’s exactly what he did. It tended to be when someone needed him, or someone else was in danger, but damn if he didn’t go hard when he jumped without thinking.

He had _no_ clue what he was going to do about Lotor. All he knew was that he wasn’t leaving Keith alone with a creep like him. Sure, the Omega could handle himself. He had been doing it for a while, and both Allura _and_ Acxa claimed that he was strong, but neither of them _knew_ what he knew now.

He followed the path back to Shiro’s room, knowing that’s where Keith would probably be, nearly slipping around the corner.

There he was. Ridiculously tall with that ugly platinum blond hair that belonged in some kind of commercial because it actually wasn’t ugly at all, life wasn’t fair that way. Keith was edging away from him slowly, like he was facing some sort of jungle predator.

Lance took a few steps forward, and Keith’s eyes snapped towards him. Very quickly, he zipped out of Lotor’s reach and to Lance’s side instead, his entire body tense. Keith didn’t necessarily _cuddle_ with him, but he stayed firmly pressed to his side.

Lotor’s eyes darted from one of them to the other, definitely a bit taken back to see that Lance was still there with Keith, that they hadn’t gone off in their own directions to do their own things yet.

Without warning, the Alpha lurched forward, grabbing Keith’s arm and jerking him towards him and away from Lance in a moment of pure, unadulterated rage. Keith let out a startled yelp, and Lance actually _snarled_ , shoving himself in between the two. It took everything he had to not tear into the other Alpha, those old, ancient instincts that made him want to fight to protect what was his screaming at him.

“Don’t fucking touch me,” Keith growled once he got a hold of himself. His scent was filled with pure anger, and Lance was sure that his wasn’t much better. He didn’t cower behind the Alpha, stepping up beside him and glaring at Lotor. He _definitely_ wasn’t the kind of Omega to beg two Alphas to calm down and not to fight. He was more likely to join it.

Lotor completely ignored Keith (calming himself down), tilted his head up so that he was looking down at Lance even more, but he didn’t let that intimidate him. Not this time. “You stole _my_ Omega.”

It took every ounce of willpower he had not to blurt out something to the effect of he would know a thing or two about stealing Omegas. He managed to school his features, raising an eyebrow. “Implying that Keith never had a choice. Nice. Funny, how he would rather be with someone he knew for only a few hours instead of with you.” He didn’t like this whole talking about Keith like he wasn’t in the room thing, and settled his arm around his shoulders, squeezing gently as a sign of comfort, and also to calm him down before he flipped out.

“What’s going on here?”

They all looked up as Acxa approached, Ezor trailing behind her, looking more than a little confused. Lance didn’t have time to ponder about why she was there specifically, but it took Lotor’s harsh gaze away from him.

“I do not need incompetent idiots working for me,” Lotor said, his voice still silky and smooth, but simmering with concealed rage. “I would never want someone who doesn’t understand how a contract works to work with my clients.”

Keith didn’t owe his sister a thing, but at the same time, he still stepped up, narrowing his eyes at the Alpha. “Nothing in that said anything about me bonding with someone else beforehand. Jut that you had her approval and permission. Guess you should have got _mine_ first.”

“You are in the presence of _three_ Alphas,” Lotor said. “Know your place, _Omega_.” He used that specific tone of voice that almost always had an impact on Omegas, and sometimes Betas.

For a moment, Lance thought that surely Keith would be able to resist it, but then he moved back, hunching in on himself slightly. That was not at all okay.

Almost shaking with anger, Lance snapped, “His place is wherever he wants it to be, and maybe you should learn yours, because it’s not here.”

“What did you want me to do?” Acxa asked. “Lock him up? Tie him down?”

“He was your Omega that was promised to me. It was well within your rights to do so. Such a lack of vision and insight.” He frowned. “You and Ezor can both consider yourselves fired. I have no desire to have a staff that cannot control their own personal assets, let alone my business ones.” He then focused on Lance again. “I do hope that your family is ready for the consequences of this, though from the looks of you, I doubt that.”

Lance bristled at that. It was true, his family wasn’t swimming in money, but it wasn’t like they were on the streets. They got by well enough, and they were happy. Lotor clearly hadn’t had mommy or daddy’s love growing up.

“Though,” Lotor suddenly looked at Keith, “there is a way to resolve this conflict without issue. I’ve seen it done many times before.”

“What are you talking about?” Lance tensed up, feeling Keith doing the same.

“I’m sure you’re toiling in…debts.” He made a face like he had said a truly dirty word. Then again what did he know of debts? “I make them go away for your family, and in return, your _family_ ,” his eyes flickered to Keith before going back to Lance, “gives me what I want.”

Lance instantly understood what he meant. Horror ran through him, and he burst out, “You are _not_ taking Keith anywhere.” Jesus, was this what Keith always had to deal with? Being seen only as a tool or an object to be used however someone pleased? Keith was clearly upset, shown both by his expression and his scent.

“Don’t be so dramatic. It wouldn’t be permanent.” Lotor spoke like he was talking to a toddler, only raising Lance’s ire. “Just for a pup or two. Perhaps someone like _you_ doesn’t realize this, but given the population crisis our world is in – the shortage of Omegas after the pandemic – it has become very common to _loan_ Omegas so that they can pup while you don’t need them for that. Think of it as a rental.” Again with the tone of distaste, but Lotor probably hadn’t rented anything in his life.

Lance felt like he was going to vomit, and Keith looked read to commit murder. They both knew, hell, everyone standing there had to know that if Keith went with Lotor, none of the rest of them would ever see him again. Even if Lotor didn’t keep him, he’d probably toss him into whatever trafficking ring he had going, marked or not.

In fact, this whole this sounded suspicious. He felt like Lotor wasn’t one to negotiate or anything like that. He was up to something else.

“Fuck you!” Lance blurted out. “Keith is a _person,_ you grade A asshole, and maybe if you knew that, you would have stood a chance!” He didn’t want to be around this dickwad anymore, and even though he didn’t ask, he was pretty confident that Keith didn’t want to be there either, so he started heading back to where Hunk was, guiding the Omega along.

Lotor reached out and grabbed Keith’s arm, earning a startled yelp from the Omega as he was pulled backwards, close enough to the Alpha for him to say something that Lance couldn’t hear.

The only thing that stopped Lance from jumping on him was Acxa grabbing a hold of him. Keith quickly got away from Lotor, making sure he was nowhere near him. Lotor didn’t say or do anything, he simply left.

“What did he say to you?” Acxa demanded. Keith didn’t answer her, shifting closer to Lance.

God, Lance couldn’t even pinpoint what negative emotion Keith was feeling, so many of them blended together into a very unpleasant scent. Slowly, he reached out, placing a hand on Keith’s arm. The Omega took a few deep breaths, clearly trying to calm himself down, but then stepped right into Lance’s arms.

He was a bit surprised, but didn’t at all complain, hugging him close and nuzzling him to try and help calm him.

“Is everything alright here?”

They all looked up to see a haggard looking security guard in front of them. Lance rolled his eyes at the man, who should have been there much, much sooner.

“Peachy,” he replied sarcastically.

“Why was Lotor here?”

They all looked up as Allura peered out of Shiro’s room again now that the coast was clear. Lance instantly felt bad about forgetting that she was on her way up here and had probably stumbled onto the scene like he had. She was another victim of Lotor’s and shouldn’t have to be around him at all.

Before anyone could answer, the female Omega’s eyes narrowed when she spied Acxa and Ezor. “Why are _you_ here?”

“We were coming to see if Shiro was okay,” Ezor spoke up, her voice perky despite the situation. “Then we saw Lotor about to start a fight with these two.”

“Don’t tell Shiro,” Keith blurted out, looking up at Allura with pleading eyes. “Please, Allura. Just let him rest.”

Allura pursed her lips slightly. “Fine, for now.” She looked at Acxa. “He resting again right now, but he’s been up and talking. He’ll be fine. I don’t think seeing _you_ right now will help.”

Acxa inhaled sharply, clearly not happy by this. Ezor reached forward, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Come on, let’s go make sure that he left. And start thinking about our resumes.”

The female Alpha resisted for a moment before nodding her head.

Keith waited until they were both gone before looking up at Lance and saying, “He said that he’d still be willing to take me once you’re ‘dealt with’.” His distress suddenly gave way to anger as his entire body tensed. “He actually fucking said that.”

It was very clear what Lotor meant by dealt with, but Lance still wanted to clarify it. “Is he subtly threatening to kill me without actually threatening me?”

“He’s an asshole, so it wouldn’t surprise me any if he was,” Allura said with a scowl.

In most cases, Lance would easily agree with that sentiment. The thing was, he _knew_ that there was more to this. That Lotor was a genuine threat and not just someone throwing a fit.

Offering to ‘rent’ Keith when Lance didn’t feel like knocking him up was probably as far as the other Alpha was going to negotiate.

“So, my friend, Pidge, is a crazy hacker and so is her brother…and her whole family but whatever. Anyway, she decided she was going to hack Lotor, and apparently found that he and Daizabaal are trafficking Omegas. And Acxa said something about him _killing_ someone that disagreed with him.”

There was a long, heavy pause as Allura and Keith stared at him with wide, horrified eyes. As Omegas, both of them had been warned over and over again to take care of themselves. They were more aware than anyone else that others like them had been disappearing at an alarmingly high rate.

Knowing that the possible source of it (or at least one source, since there had to be other buyers and sellers involved) had been interested in both of them personally was probably terrifying.

Not sure what to do about the long silence, Lance added, “And Pidge wants us to meet her and Matt somewhere to go over stuff.”

“What the fuck?” Keith breathed out and stared at Allura with wide eyes.

“Oh my god,” she said in the same voice. “Oh my _god_.” Suddenly, she seemed to come alive. “Has this been reported to anyone? Because if we need personal testaments of Lotor’s personality to get his ass in jail, I’ll gladly go before a courtroom.” She would probably look fabulous and fierce doing it too, in Lance’s humble opinion. What did he know though? He was simply a man in comparison to her.

“I don’t know what’s going on with it,” Lance admitted. “I took off to find Keith before I could get the whole story.” He looked at his mate, who seemed like eh was about to ask a question. “Matt apparently started tracking Lotor and the rest of us.”

“Jesus,” Keith muttered. He almost started laughing, because this was ridiculous.

Lance understood, of course. His group had come to Vegas for a concert and the casinos. Keith’s had come for a birthday party. Both had spiralled so wildly out of control that it actually was kind of really funny, in a dark, morbid way.

Allura took a deep breath and muttered something to herself. “Okay. I’m going to check in on Shiro and actually eat something. You two should do the same. Let me know if anything else comes up.”

“Okay,” Keith said, sounding completely exhausted. He looked up at Lance. “I was coming to talk to you anyway.”

Nervousness rushed through Lance, and he wasn’t quite sure why. Still, he nodded his head, slipping his hand into Keith’s as they started slowly walking, feeling relieved when he didn’t seem to mind.

…

“I’m sorry,” Keith blurted out, frowning as he did. “For all of this.”

Lance bit his lip before saying, “You know it’s not your fault Lotor’s a creep. You’re a victim here. And…yeah, this is wild but I can’t…I can’t bring myself to regret it?”

Keith looked up at him curiously.

“Well, I mean, this whole thing is getting pretty bonkers and I really just want to get it over with. I want to have a normal vacation. But I also want _you_ to be there. I guess what I mean is I don’t regret you?” Lance tilted his head slightly, as if unsure of his wording.

Warmth rushed through the Omega’s skin, more than just a blush. Damn this Alpha.

“Look, we talked about past relationships, but I just…can I talk for a minute and just talk?” Lance looked at him almost pleadingly. Who was Keith to say no to that? It was what he wanted to talk about, isn’t it? Shiro said that listening and communication were the keys to good relationships, and Shiro was ridiculously happy with Allura, so surely he knew what he was talking about.

Either way, it was enough for him to try. He nodded his head.

“I mentioned this before and I just…well…about a year ago now, I got out of a long-term relationship and since then I just…I’ve felt like crap about myself. I was _miserable_. I barely got through school. I mean, I did it, and I got my dream job, but I’m still not completely happy. A lot of people would find that stupid, because I am grateful for those parts of my life, but I’ve always wanted what my parents had. I’ve always wanted love and a relationship like that.”

Keith wanted to interrupt, to say that he would have been happy with all those other good things, but that wasn’t the point. They were different. If he was honest, Keith didn’t really allow himself to entertain the notion of love. He just wanted respect, a partnership. He expected to be used against his own will.

But who was he to judge someone for wanting love? His parents had loved one another fiercely, and yes, at one point he had been bitter about his mother letting him and Acxa down, wondering why they weren’t enough, but time and growth let him understand that people looked at the world differently. Part of her world had ended the day his father died. Love had been so very important to her.

So he nodded his head, saying nothing but showing that he was listening. Lance seemed to brighten a bit at that, like few people really listening to him in this fashion. “I had decided that I’d never meet anyone, that I was everything bad she said about me. So we came here for a trip to Vegas and for the concert, and it was amazing, but then I met you.” Lance looked at him with those dark, ocean blue eyes. “And I don’t get it, but you…you’re so sure of yourself. You know who you are, and you embrace it, not letting anything hold you back and that’s amazing and it makes me want to be better too? Already? And already you say and do things that make me think ‘hey maybe I’m not that bad’. Like I matter? Maybe this is stupid of me but I’m almost glad this happened?” He smiled slightly. “Uh, thank you for just listening.”

For someone who was ‘emotionally stunted’, as he had been called before, Keith was a very emotional person. He just didn’t really know how to handle them. This was one of those moments. He didn’t really know what to say or do.

Blunt honesty it was.

“Lance, you’re the best Alpha I’ve personally met since my dad died,” Keith said slowly. He knew that there were Alphas who just hadn’t bothered with him, and there were a lot of good people out there, he just seemed to attract the assholes. “So no, you’re not that bad at all, and you do matter.” He grabbed Lance’s hands and squeezed them. “If it wasn’t for you, I would be Lotor’s mate right now. A mated Omega to an Alpha that could very well be _trafficking_ Omegas.”

Keith lowered his voice as they got closer to people, not wanting anyone to overhear them.

“But you know what, it’s…kind of amazing that someone found proof of that, isn’t it? I mean, maybe _we_ might be able to help those people? Or at least prevent it in the future? Pidge and Matt wouldn’t have hacked Lotor if he wasn’t an ass to me, and they wouldn’t have known me if it wasn’t for you. All this only came about because you were a good person that hid me, a person that let me, a stranger, hang out with you and your friends, who kept wanting to protect me. You’re really the one that put this in motion. You saved me. Because of this, Hunk was able to save another Omega from being taken. Your actions could very well end up saving others too, depending on what happens next.” He let out a bark of a laugh. “And you think you’re not good enough? You’re literally all I’ve ever looked for in a partner, and more.”

Lance stared at him with wide eyes. In the middle of a busy hospital hallway, they both just stared at one another. Then he took a deep breath and a brilliant smile appeared on his face. “Come back home with me.”

“Huh?”

His face flushed. “I mean, you don’t have to. I told you that before. You don’t. But um, I would like it if you did? My apartment is tiny and shitty, but like…we may be bonded, but I’m not going to force you into anything. Or you could just come with me for a bit til this blows over maybe? That’s fine too. I just…I want you to feel safe and I want to spend time with you…we’ve known each other for less that 24 hours but I feel like I’ve known you forever? So, um, do you think that, you _would_ like to come with me? After this? You don’t have to answer right now. It’s a big thing to ask! I—how long are you hear for?”

Keith stared at him, completely surprised. That was exactly what he had wanted to talk to Lance about. He thought about everything that Lance had rambled on about before saying, “We were leaving tomorrow, but it’ll depend on when Shiro gets out.” Bitterness rose up within him. “Enough time to sell me off and let him drag me away.”

Then he suddenly remembered Lotor saying that someone had gone to his home and had already took all of his stuff. How the hell was he supposed to get it all back?

“You’re different,” Keith says after shaking himself out of his panic. “Most Alphas would just tell me to pack up and go. Lotor already moved all my shit at home.”

“Jesus,” Lance hissed, narrowing his eyes. “I really mean it when I say I’m not trying to be possessive or anything, but I…really, really just want to pack you up and take you back with me to hide you from him? Until this blows over? Or, you know, I could go with you for a bit to your home?”

Keith chuckled at him. “Not possessive.” He thought for a moment, before finally saying, “My job with Shiro isn’t a real job. If he wanted someone to do what I did, he could pay them a whole lot less. It’s a pity job for his part-time job. And you…you have your dream job. I would _never_ even think of making you leave that. We’re both going to be miserable without one another during heats and ruts. It makes sense for me to go with you. If you want me to.”

“I don’t care what makes sense. I care about what you want.” Lance stared at him. “We haven’t even known each other for 24 hours, but hell yeah I want you to. I just…want…you need to be happy too.”

Keith had been thinking about this on and off all day. It was impossible not to. His choices were essentially go home to his mother, or go with his borderline-stranger mate. It should have been an easy choice, but it got harder and harder all day. He really didn’t want to lose Lance, as strange as that was.

“Are you happy?” Keith asked, thinking back to what Lance said earlier.

“I think I could be,” the Alpha admitted.

Keith slowly nodded before saying, “I’ll go with you.” It was the impulsive, slightly stupid decision, but it was the one he wanted to do.

True to his word, Lance _smelled_ happy. He leaned down a bit before hesitating. “Can I kiss you?”

Heart jumping again, Keith nodded his head, allowing his eyes to close as Lance pressed a gentle, chaste kiss to his lips.

Somehow, he knew that he had made the right decision. It was hard to explain. Yes, he’d miss his mother, Shiro, Allura, and even Acxa in a sense, but it wasn’t like he was being separated from them forever, or wouldn’t be allowed to talk to them. In fact, it might be _good_ for him to get away from all of this. To go somewhere that wasn’t tainted by bad memories.

He didn’t get how he could feel so _safe_ with one person. Lotor was dangerous, and they had slighted him in his eyes.

“Lance, I—oh my god, I’m sorry!”

They separated from one another, both turning their heads to see a very embarrassed Hunk standing before them at the entrance to the cafeteria.

“It’s fine!” Lance assured him, his cheeks flushing a bit as he shifted to look at him. “What’s up?”

“Uh, well, someone’s here to bring us to Matt and Pidge.” His eyes were wide; like he couldn’t believe what he was saying.

Keith frowned. “What? Who?”

Hunk looked over his shoulder, and they both leaned around to see what he was looking at.

There were two tall men standing a few feet away, dressed in black suits. The tall, bald man came forward and said, “You’re Lance and Keith?”

“Who wants to know?” Keith asked warily. This man didn’t smell like an Alpha, though he certainly held himself like one. The other man was definitely one though.

Both of them pulled something out of their pockets, flipping them open to reveal an ID and a badge.

“I’m Agent Ulaz and this is Agent Thace. We’re with the FBI, and we would like you to come with us.”

Keith exchanged startled looks with Lance. What had his friends gotten them into now?

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> S7 is going to kill me. I am going to die.
> 
> I will not be changing the ship in this to match canon. However, I won’t be writing Shiro with any other ships in future stories. I never felt strongly about any ships with him anyway. 
> 
> So, what do we think of Lotor's 'negotiating' here? This is his attempt at being 'friendly'. His LAST attempt at being friendly. 
> 
> Thank you so much for all the support for this story so far! You guys are absolutely amazing!
> 
> As always, if you have any questions or comments, or just want to chat, don't hesitate to send them my way here or on my tumblr (same name as this blog). Also, sometimes I say or do things on there that are hints towards my stories or writing process, so that's always fun. Also I theorize or just freak out a lot on there too.


	10. Misunderstandings

Lance was tired in so many different ways. He was physically tired, wanting to drop onto any horizontal surface and go to sleep (Keith’s lap was looking pretty nice to sleep in at the moment). He was emotionally tired, having gone through a bigger spectrum of them than he would on an average day. He was also very mentally tired.

He wondered if he should have called his parents when the situation was still ‘hey Ma I have a mate now surprise’ and not ‘also Hunk joined a gang, and Pidge uncovered a trafficking ring, and now the FBI is taking us to some kind of home base’.

His siblings _never_ had this type of shit happen to them when they went to Vegas. They were never going to let him live this down.

Still, he had to check in, so he simply said that he was having fun and things were good. That was an awful lie.

One of the men that had introduced himself to them, Ulaz, was apparently staying back with Shiro and Allura, both to talk to Allura, and apparently to watch out for if Lotor came back until a uniformed officer got there. They were going to be protected until Shiro was released, and if things whatever was happening was still happening then, they’d be brought to where the rest of them were.

Meanwhile, he had been piled into the back seat of a black SUV just like the ones that he had seen on TV before, on their way to some kind of safe house.

Lance knew that Pidge and Matt discovering a trafficking ring was a huge deal, and that Lotor was running it and he might possibly be gunning for him now, but he hadn’t thought that it would warrant being moved to a _safe house_ by the FBI. What the hell was going on?

“You okay?”

He broke out of his thoughts at Hunk’s question, looking towards his friend. “Yeah. Just tired. It’s been a long day, and it’s going to get longer.” Keith shifted beside him, not saying anything, but Lance could smell the guilt. He really didn’t have the energy to comment on it though. “Wish I had my stuff from the hotel. I could use a face mask and a bath.” He wished that they could go to the Olkarion and use the room that he and Keith technically had for that night. A part of him still wanted to try that tub that could turn into a hot tub.

Damn that treacherous part of his mind that pictured Keith in there with him. They were trying to take things slow, dammit! Just be two bros chilling in a hot tub. Two bros that were married. That were mates. That had sex the night before. That had kissed recently.

Screw you, brain.

“We’ve sent people to gather your things to bring to our safe house,” Thace spoke up from the front seat. That _shouldn’t_ have made Lance as happy as it did, but there they were.

“Is a safe house really necessary?” Keith asked, sounding skeptical about the whole thing.

Thace chuckled humourlessly. “You have no idea what you’ve all stumbled into, do you?”

“A creepy dude doing really creepy things?” Hunk suggested, though that was putting it mildly.

Thace didn’t answer, but something about his silence told Lance that this was so much bigger than he thought it was.

They got away from the strip, to a less flashy area where nothing really stood out. That was smart if they were trying to stay out of sight, out of mind.

Lance couldn’t help but feel put off though. He had been amazed and enthralled with the lights and energy of the Strip when he got there. It felt like a real vacation, like he stepped into another world for a while. This wasn’t that at all.

It was a strange feeling. Yes, Lance liked Keith so far, like him a lot. He didn’t regret helping him, asking him to hang out with his friends, and he didn’t regret becoming his mate. He truly didn’t. Yet he regretted that they got dragged into something _this_ big. If only they had stopped Pidge and Matt from running off the night before.

That was such a selfish though, because if the steps they all took lead to helping other Omegas all over the country, wasn’t that worth it?

He felt a hand rest on his shoulder, startling him a bit. He looked over at Keith, who was staring at him with almost sad eyes. Keith didn’t say anything, but he was definitely trying to calm Lance a bit. From the worry he could smell from Hunk, he assumed his smell had soured with his negative thoughts, and now Keith was trying to help.

Lance sighed and slumped over, resting his head on Keith’s shoulder. The Omega tensed for a split second, but then relaxed, moving his arm around him and allowing him to curl up onto him more.

Now that he was right up by Keith’s neck, he could really take in the calming scent that Keith was trying to exude, easily falling victim to it and allowing himself to close his eyes for a moment.

So he was more than a bit confused when, the next thing he knew, Keith was shaking him awake gently. He blinked, looking around with confusion when he realized that they were in a residential area.

“Huh?” he mumbled, looking up at his mate with pure confusion.

“You fell asleep,” Keith informed him, the door beside him open. “Hunk nodded off after you, so maybe I went a little hard with the pheromones.” He actually looked quite embarrassed about that. It was something that Omegas could do if they really wanted to. The implication being that, if they could make themselves that relaxed that they could soothe others, then there couldn’t be a threat around. It wasn’t something they could do if they were distressed.

Lance often wondered if other people ever considered how _dangerous_ that could make Omegas, but no, no one actually seemed to care. That being said, Lance could tell that Thace was an Alpha too, but he seemed wide awake, standing outside of the car.

“Probably just tired like me,” he suggested.

“No, Thace assured me that it was me, but apparently they give them things to block out scents or something, so they’re not influenced by them,” Keith admitted, sounding relieved about that. That was definitely a good thing, or it might have gotten them into a car accident.

Yeah, Omegas could absolutely be just as dangerous as Alphas if they needed to. It was amazing that everyone overlooked that.

He yawned and reached over, shaking Hunk away. The other Alpha came with a start, looking around wildly before asking, “Where are we?”

That was a very good question.

Lance looked around as he stumbled out of the car after Keith. The sky was slowly getting dark now, but he could still make out the house before them. It looked just like every other one around them, nothing special.

Thace led them up to the front door and knocked. Another tall, intimidating man answered, looking at them all with a critical eye before nodding and moving aside.

They walked into the entrance of the rather spacious house, and Lance couldn’t help but note that it looked like something his abulea would have liked. It looked like an entirely normal house, though without anything personal anywhere. He wondered who it belonged to, of if the FBI just happened to buy a house in the Vegas area at the same time Pidge happened to discover something so huge.

Then they entered the living room, and it was anything _but_ empty. There were computer things _everywhere_ , and a few more tall, intimidating men in suits standing around. In the middle of the chaos was something that made Lance’s heart leap.

“Pidge! Matt!”

The two of them looked up from the screens they were hovering over, and promptly exploded with excitement. Lance didn’t know who moved first, but soon he found himself in a group hug with Pidge, Matt, and Hunk all around him. He was _so_ relieved that all of his friends were okay.

A loud clearing of the throat caught everyone’s attention, and the man that came forward instantly had Lance wanting to tuck his metaphorical tail between his legs. He was tall and broad, with light brown skin, dark eyes, and white hair tied back into a long braid. His expression and scent screamed of a no-nonsense attitude.

“My name is Kolivan, and I am the team lead of this taskforce,” he introduced himself. “We would like to interview each one of you to discuss the past 24 hours, and anything that might have to do with Lotor Galdara or Daizabaal Industries.”

“I won’t lie, I have no idea what Daizabaal Industries does,” Hunk admitted.

“Doesn’t Galdara mean boiler?” Matt asked, making a face.

“Why do you know that?” Pidge wondered.

Lance stared at his friends fondly. God, he loved all of them to pieces, even if they could get incredibly annoying at times. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and only realized then that Keith hadn’t really followed them into the room, hovering close to the hallway that led to the rest of the house.

His arms were crossed, and he was staring at Kolivan with a stern expression. “I’m not telling you _anything_ until you tell _us_ what’s going on.”

“Chill, they’re the FBI,” Lance told him, drawing Keith’s sharp eyes back towards him.

“And?” Oh wow. Lance couldn’t remember being shot down with a single word outside of ‘no’ before.

“I knew there was a reason I liked you,” Pidge noted with a grin. She made herself comfortable in her nest of electronics on the floor and motioned towards the chairs. “Come on, have a seat for story time! I will explain all!”

Lance shrugged and sat down, holding his hand out towards Keith. The Omega hesitated before sitting down beside him stiffly. He had no idea what brought on this sudden tenseness, but he didn’t really like it.

“Okay.” She clapped her hands together. “I told Lance part of this already, and Hunk knows a pretty big part. So, last night after we made mad bank at White Lion, and Lotor was a complete creep that ended up using your phone to stalk you, I decided that I was going to make Lotor’s online life hell.” She nodded towards Keith. “Especially after he ended up drugging you and Lance. So, the thing is, he’s actually pretty boring? I mean, definitely an bigot, and into some really weird and creepy porno shit that Matt very quickly stopped me from seeing, but in the long run, nothing interesting at all? It wasn’t much fun. Definitely into his work though – all kinds of legal weapons deals and development going on, so I thought it’d be fun to mess with that. That’s where I found the juicy stuff.”

“My sister always said security was super tight,” Keith pointed out. That would actually make sense, if they were dealing with weapons and government stuff.

“Oh, it was a _bitch_ to get through,” Pidge said with a nod of her head. “Took hours, but you know, it’s me.” Keith blinked his eyes at her. “Or you will know. Anyway, once I got in, I wanted to do some digging to find where I could really do some damage.” She frowned. “Then we found it.”

Matt took up speaking after that. “In schools, there are history lessons about trafficking rings, but it’s different now. They usually don’t move big groups around. That gets them caught. They use the dark web instead. Largely impossible to track unless you know where to look. What Pidge found were live listings of Omegas. All of them listed with sick descriptions of what they looked like, how to handle them if they had a temper, if they were virgins. If they were unmated or not. The pictures were borderline pornographic for the most part. You know, so buyers can see the goods they’re paying for.” He looked torn between wanting to hit something, and wanting to be sick. “There were dozens of them. Some were listed as ‘sold’, some were ‘pending’, some were ‘for sale’.” His eyes suddenly looked towards Keith. “There was actually a section for mated Omegas too. Apparently that’s a thing some people are into – taking Omegas claimed by others.”

Lance couldn’t help it, his hand moved to Keith’s holding it tightly. Keith’s fingers twitched but then curled around Lance’s and shifted a bit closer to him.

His mind was racing as his heart pounded. He had been right about Lotor. If Keith had gone with him, then he would be gone too, probably forced onto that website.

How was it that people kept finding more and more ways to disgust him? This whole thing was beyond terrifying no matter which way it was framed or looked at. There wasn’t an aspect to it that wasn’t. Taking a mated Omega really, really hit Lance the wrong way though. Maybe it was _because_ he had his own mate now that was at risk. Maybe it was because he knew that a mated Omega would find other beyond Alphas repulsive, _especially_ when they were in heat. The fact that some Alphas actually _liked_ that made him want to throw up. What was _wrong_ with people?

That actually gave him pause. Lotor was one of those people. He had offered to ‘rent’ Keith. He said that it was a common thing. God, the more he learned about this asshole, the more he wanted to push him into a shark tank and let his watery friends deal with him. Hopefully they wouldn’t get indigestion.

“Okay, I get that, but how did all _this_ happen?” Hunk asked, motioning to the agents that were just watching them. That was kind of creepy.

“That was Matt’s call,” Pidge said with a nod. “We needed to get them in on this because this was way too much for people like us. Especially because it could probably be tossed out in court for being illegally obtained. I don’t know how that works. So we decided to get a hold of Regris, our FBI agent.” She pointed to another man that was sitting in the corner.

“I’m sorry, what?” Lance interrupted, more than a bit confused at that. Hunk and Keith looked just as baffled. “ _Your_ FBI agent?”

“Yeah. You know, the one that’s supposed to watch your every move online?”

“That’s _real_?” Hunk asked his voice rising in alarm.

Pidge nodded her head. “Yeah. I mean they only do regular, consistent one-on-one with people that are suspicious or they’re keeping an eye on.” She looked oddly proud of this. “Regris here has the lucky job of personally observing hackers on their lists that happen to be Omegas. Apparently it’s a super small list and I’m at the top. So he happened to be working with the right people _anyway_.”

That actually made a bit of sense to Lance. “Well I meant the Pentagon thing…”

Pidge narrowed her eyes as Regris sat up straight. “ _What_ Pentagon thing?”

“The research on demon summoning to get her hacking powers?” Lance squeaked out. Okay, apparently Pidge could do things the FBI couldn’t track. He was right to be terrified of her. What the hell?

“Anyway,” she said loudly. “I knew who he was, so I got his attention and let him know what was going on. These guys rolled up really fast after that.”

“That’s how we got here, but that doesn’t explain why we all had to come to a safe house,” Keith spoke up, twisting around to look at Kolivan. “Lotor doesn’t even know who any of them are.”

“I do not have to explain our process to you,” Kolivan said sternly.  “I can tell you that what you’ve stumbled upon is bigger than you realize. One of our own agents suspected Daizabaal a long time ago, but she was never able to get any proof. Then the new Omega laws came into play, so she couldn’t work for them anymore. Still, she kept an eye on them for them as best as she could but could never find anything. We never had grounds for a warrant. Until now.”

“Keith,” Pidge spoke up again, prompting them all to look back at her. She had a serious, but oddly vulnerable look on her face. “The money behind this is ridiculous. This isn’t a small little ring. This is huge. When there’s that much money involved, you gotta assume that they can have people go through this, realize they’ve been hacked, and get back to us.” She bit her lip. “I think I even found instances of _international_ shipping.”

Lance frowned at that, but Keith’s eyes widened. “This thing’s world-wide? And Lotor’s in charge of it.”

He thought about Keith’s words for a moment, before his stomach twisted dangerously. Jesus, this _was_ so much bigger than they imagined.

“Don’t worry so much,” a tall woman told them. “You’re here to give personal statements. We’ve managed to work out a way to get warrants thanks to Pidge here.” Pidge positively preened at that. “You’re just here for safety while we move. Despite what shows tell you, we don’t usually let civilians get involved in our investigations.”

That was actually kind of a relief. “So, just until you get a hold of Lotor?” Lance asked hopefully.

“Something like that.” He got the feeling that it was all they were going to get out of everyone else.

“Alright, I said you could look at my tech until your friends got here,” the one named Regris said. “Go on.”

Pidge rolled her eyes and side, standing up and stretching out her legs. Matt stood beside her and said, “We’ve basically got the run of the house as long as we don’t mess with their junk. And basement’s off-limits. There are plenty of rooms here though.”

“How is anyone affording this?” Lance asked as he stood too. Out of all of the questions, out of everything that had been revealed, that was what he chose to ask about. Well done, Lancey-Lance.

“I think it belongs to someone grandma,” Pidge said, motioning towards the agents as she led the way upstairs. “We got them to order us some pizza and drinks. It should be here soon.”

Well, Lance thought. At least he got one thing right so far. Sure, pizza and drinks wasn’t something exciting to special, it was something they could do at home, but at least it was something normal.

It was really all he could ask for at this point.

…

The night before, Keith had gotten along with Lance’s friends amazingly. They had so much fun, and they were all so welcoming. The thing is though, they _all_ thought that it would be a temporary thing. Maybe they’d exchange numbers and talk online or something, but that was it. Keith had even doubted that in the back of his mind, already having partially accepted his fate to be Lotor’s mate, which also mean ending himself in the most painless way he could.

None of them expected him to force his way permanently into their lives.

Keith knew that it had been a mutual decision with as much consent as their intoxicated selves could possibly give. He knew that Lance was being genuine when he said that he wanted to work things out, that he liked him.

It didn’t change the fact that this was his fault. Everyone could tell him over and over again that it was Lotor, not him. Lotor wasn’t the one that latched onto a group of complete strangers that were just trying to have a good time, bringing all of this insanity onto them.

With that in mind, when they suggested pizza and movies to end the night on at least a normal note (as normal as it could be, being surrounded by FBI agents all the time), he had faked being more tired than he was. Mind you, he was exhausted, but he was usually good at hiding that until it got really bad.

There were different rooms in the houses, enough for all of them to have their own beds for now. Pidge had excitedly told Hunk and Lance that it was just like their hotel rooms, how she could bunk with Matt, and the two Alphas could stay together, but the rooms were apparently nicer, if smaller.

Keith took another room. It had a bigger bed compared to the small ones in the other rooms, but that was fine with him.

As promised, his stuff was retrieved from the hotel, and as promised at the hotel, everything was perfectly clean without a trace of Lotor’s scent on it.

Despite this, Keith stared at his clothes, disgust creeping up his stomach. Lotor had touched his clothes, putting them near his scent gland at the very least. He doubted that was all the aggressive Alpha had done if he happened to return to Keith’s room after going to the White Lion the night before.

He didn’t want any of it anymore, making a note to toss it out and see if he could perhaps borrow some money from Shiro or Allura to get some more. He didn’t want to burden anyone with that, but he really didn’t have the money to buy much right now. Well, he did have the winnings from the night before. Legally though, that belonged to Lance now.

Then again, everything that was his belonged to Lance now, including, well, _him_. Keith wasn’t bitter about this, it was so much better than belonging to Lotor, who would have either rented him out to the highest bidder when he didn’t have a use for him, or would have kept him locked up.

Deciding to just sleep in the clothes he had on, Keith kicked off his boots, jacket, and gloves. He grabbed his toothbrush and a tube a toothpaste that was still thankfully sealed, otherwise he might have thrown that out too. He made his way to the bathroom that had been pointed out to him earlier, moving as quiet as he could so that he didn’t disturb anyone else. He knew how to sneak around when he wanted to, to the point where Shiro once threatened to put a bell on him.

His mom always said that he was either fairly silent, or as loud as an airhorn with very little in between.

He had almost reached the bathroom when he heard Hunk say, “Hey guys, do you think Lance will be okay? This is a bit…much, right?”

Keith paused and bit his lip. He inched forward, closer to the door despite knowing that he shouldn’t eavesdrop. Maybe it was his instincts making him worry about his mate. Peaking in, he could see that Lance had apparently fallen asleep on one of the beds. He was tempted to go in, but didn’t, back tracking a bit.

“It’s a lot, but he’s fine,” Matt replied, sounding a bit distracted. “Who knows, maybe this will be good for him after what Nyma did.”

“Pretend to love him, string him along to make him fall in love with her, then steal everything he has and run off with someone else?” Pidge asked bitterly. “I hate that I never found her.”

Keith’s mind reeled at that. _That_ was what happened with Lance’s ex?

“Avoiding computers is a pretty good way to do that,” Hunk replied sleepily.

Pidge hummed in acknowledgement. “Speaking of. I kind of…sort of looked up Keith online? Like, a lot.” Keith felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured over him.

“Pidge,” Matt said sternly.

“I was worried, okay? Look, I like the guy, but We don’t know anything about him! Besides, it’s not like I found anything bad outside of one police report. He had really high marks at school. Some old emails and stuff about fights. He works for his brother. No weird stuff online. He’s really boring online.”

“A police report?” Hunk asked, sounding much more awake and a little alarmed.

“He didn’t do anything wrong,” Pidge quickly assured him. “Don’t worry about that. It’s just…apparently he hasn’t had good run-ins with Alphas. Like, he’s had really shitty luck with them.”

Keith felt like he was going to throw up as he heard someone shift. A part of him wanted to leave, but he also wanted to know what they knew.

“Jesus,” Matt muttered. “Assault. Molestation. Attempted Rape. Attempted force bonding. Barely any time done for this too. Later stalking charges pressed and a restraining order. Well, that would explain _why_ he couldn’t charge Lotor for stalking. Well, that and his sister wouldn’t go for it.”

“What do you mean?” his sister asked curiously. Apparently there were things the little genius didn’t know.

“At that point, people would just start assuming that he’s trying to keep all Alphas away from him and was being difficult. The blame would have shifted to him.” Good job Matt, Keith thought almost hysterically. That was absolutely one of the reasons (along with Acxa and the fact that Lotor was filthy rich) why he couldn’t go to the police to stop Lotor.

One Alpha? They could absolutely believe that. Two? No. That was just an Omega being picky and trying to manipulate the law when they needed to remember their place.

“Hey guys,” Hunk said slowly, hesitantly, like he really didn’t want to say whatever thought was coming to his mind. “So I spent some time with Keith, and he seems nice and all, but do you think, maybe…like he met a nice Alpha and happened to bond with him after dealing with two really bad ones…do you think…”

“Are you trying to say that Keith might have lured Lance in on purpose?” Matt asked. Keith’s stomach dropped. No. He hadn’t done that at all.

“I don’t know! Lance says he suggested it, and they both agreed, but who knows? Maybe it wasn’t even on purpose? I mean, this is Lance. Lance who dated his past two girlfriends for _years_ without bonding with them because he’s all romantic about the idea and wanted to make sure he found the right mate for him. He’s super into doing the courting thing properly. It really doesn’t sound like a Lance thing to do,” Hunk rambled.

Oh god. Keith was going to be sick. He actually had to press his hand to his mouth to stop from making a sound. Had he done that on purpose? He hadn’t meant to soothe Hunk into relaxing earlier, causing him to fall asleep, but he had. Had he done something to draw Lance in? Something that prompted him to want to be his mate?

He tried not to whimper.

“Not true,” Pidge suddenly replied. “Lance is plenty impulsive. Plus he has that thing where he just throws himself in front of people to protect them.”

“That’s true,” Hunk conceded. “So it might have been that…hero complex thing he’s got.”

“Keith’s smelled honest to me,” Matt said. “You’ve been around him longer though. What do you _really_ think?”

“I just…I don’t know.”

Keith couldn’t listen to anything anymore. He was actually going to be sick. Or worse, he was going to start making some horrible, distressed Omega sound.

He didn’t even bother going to the bathroom. Instead, he _thre_ w the toothbrush and toothpaste at the dresser that was there and quickly grabbed a pillow, shoving his face into it as he let out one of those ungodly distressed sounds. Luckily, the pillow and an explosion on the television were enough to cover the sound.

Taking a few deep breaths, Keith desperately tried to calm himself. If he could un-break their bond just so Lance could be free to live the type of life he wanted, to find the right person and not just settle on making things work with him because they were stuck together, he would have.

He should have just given himself to Lotor. He should have been the Omega everyone was always telling him he needed to be.

That thought gave him pause. He could still be that, couldn’t he? Just for Lance, not Lotor. He owed him that. 

Yeah, Lance said that he’d be supportive of Keith, sign what he needed him to sign, basically give him the freedom to do or be what he wanted. That wasn’t how things work though, was it? Eventually, he’d get surely get sick of Keith’s requests. He’d want a good Omega, right?

It was probably just better for him to be that from the beginning. This mess was his fault, and he owed Lance that and more.

…

Lance blinked open his eyes as the bed shifted beside him. He looked up with confusion when he saw the screen turn off. He slowly sat up, grimacing when he spine cracked a bit. “What? The movie’s over?”

“You conked out in like the first five minutes, dude,” Hunk said as he helped Matt and Pidge clean up. “Might as well go back to sleep. We’re all turning in.”

He stretched his arms out above him, his shirt riding up. He sighed and looked around again, a frown marring his features. “Where’s Keith?”

They all paused, eyeing him for a moment, before Pidge said, “He didn’t want to watch the movie with us, remember?”

“Oh, right, yeah.” He nodded his head. God, he was still tired. Now that he was awake though, he felt antsy. Like something was wrong. He couldn’t pinpoint where the feeling came from, but he couldn’t lay still anymore, having to get to his feet.

“You good?” Matt asked with a frown as he shoved the last of the garbage into a bag.

“Yeah, I just feel really jittery,” Lance admitted. Why did this sound familiar, for some reason?

“Probably because Keith’s not here,” Pidge said, prompting all three men to look at her. “What? It’s probably true. You guys became mates like, what, 24 hours ago? Most new mates barely leave each other’s sides for more than a few minutes at a time for the first few _days_ without getting bothered even just a bit.” She shot them an annoyed look. “Why am I the only one that knows that when I have zero intentions of having a mate?”

That was true, wasn’t it? Their situation wasn’t exactly normal too, so combining that with the protectiveness that he was feeling, it made sense that he was particularly antsy. He hoped that Keith was fairing okay, knowing that, along with feeling something similar by instincts alone, he was getting closer and closer to his heat.

Stretching again, Lance decided to get ready for bed, and go check in on his mate. Surely Keith wouldn’t mind if he stayed with him? Of course, if Keith wanted privacy, he could have it without question. Lance got the feeling that he wouldn’t actually ask for it though.

He grabbed his toothbrush and face products from his bag, making a beeline for the bathroom before anyone else could get there, and ignoring the protests that he took _forever_. They could suck it.

It was refreshing to wash his face and get clean through his night routine (which wasn’t nearly as extreme as his morning one), and he felt so much better once he brushed his teeth.

Lance planned on going back to his room to drop off his stuff before checking in on Keith, but he paused and stared at the closed door. He shifted close to it, scenting the air, and finally catching on to what was bothering him. That was _not_ the scent of a happy or relaxed Omega. Not at all. In fact, it instantly had him on edge.

He almost charged through the door, the light of the hallway spilling in, showing Keith’s form slumped on top of the blankets, facing away from the door. God, the smell was awful and had Lance looking around the room for any kind of threat.

Seeing none, he closed the door behind him, blinking as he allowed his eyes to adjust to the darkness, the room only lit up thanks to the street lights outside. He set his stuff on the dresser, blinking with surprise as the toothbrush and toothpaste that were throwing on it haphazardly.

He bit his lip and moved closer to his mate, kneeling beside the side of the bed Keith was facing. The Omega was still awake, staring at him with puffy eyes. Had he been crying. Instantly, a gentle croon escaped him. “What happened?”

Keith closed his eyes at the sound, and then looked at him. “I’m fine, don’t worry about it.” He frowned and looked away, curling up into himself more. “Sorry if I woke you up. You can go back to sleep with Hunk if you want.”

Lance blinked rapidly. “Wha—how could you have woken me up? No. I mean, I can stay here if you want me to?” He paused. “Or I could leave?”

“It’s up to you,” Keith said after a moment. “Whatever you want to do.”

That was odd. He already knew that Keith was pretty forward and stubborn about what he wanted. “I want to stay here with you,” he answered honestly.

Keith simply nodded his head. Alarm started to rise up in Lance, because something was definitely wrong. Had something said or done something to him while Lance was asleep?

Then he noticed something else. Keith’s stuff was tossed in the corner, clothes peaking out of the bag, but he was still wearing his tight jeans and his red t-shirt. Though those jeans did wonderful things for him, there was absolutely no way they were comfortable to sleep in. “Why are you still wearing this?” He tapped Keith’s hip, but then quickly pulled his hand back. Yeah, _permission_ buddy. Don’t go touching someone without it.

“Lotor touched it,” Keith said after a moment, sounding almost guilty now.

“They were supposed to clean everything!” Lance cried out, immediately pissed off at the hotel staff. Yeah, cleaning the clothes of their patrons probably wasn’t a normal service, but they absolutely should have done it.

“They did,” Keith answered, calming him down a bit. “It’s just… _knowing_ what he did to my things...I know I shouldn’t be like this. Sorry.”

Oh. Oh! That made _so_ much sense. Lance kicked himself for not thinking about it. He wouldn’t want to touch his stuff either if something like that had happened. “Don’t apologize for that! It makes sense.” He slowly reached forward, giving Keith plenty of time to tell him to back off, before gently brushing a lock of hair out of his eyes.

Keith stared at him, a strange mix of something genuinely soft tainted with sadness. He didn’t like it at all.

“I’ve got an idea.” Lance stood up. “I’ll be right back, okay?” Keith hummed slightly, and Lance stalked towards the door. Something had definitely happened while he was asleep.

He came back into the room Hunk was staying in, noting that all of his friends were still there, looking a little bit antsy as he grabbed his bags.

“What are you doing?” Hunk asked him.

“Stay with Keith,” he answered simply. “He’s…really upset about something. I dunno what. Like really upset.” There was no need to accuse his friends of anything outright.

The three of them exchanged looks, and Hunk said, “Do you want to? Or feel like you have to?”

Lance paused his movements, eyebrows raising as he slowly looked around at them. “What, exactly, does that mean?”

“I’m just worried, we all are,” Hunk admitted, looking rather sad. “I like Keith, but I just—yeah. We’re worried.” Pidge and Matt both nodded.

“Don’t be,” he insisted. “Yeah, he’s my mate and I want to be around him when he’s feeling so down. That’s what a _good person_ does. Am I supposed to ignore him? Since when is _having_ to do something and wanting to do it two completely separate things?” He narrowed his eyes.

Pidge opened her mouth to say something, but Matt kicked her leg.

Lance frowned again. “You know what, I’m tired. We can talk about this in the morning.” He quickly turned and left the room, toting his bag behind him. What had happened when he was asleep? Everyone was acting so weird.

Keith was still in the same position, but looked up at him as he approached. Lance set the bag down fishing through it for his second set of pyjamas he had brought with him. “Here, you can wear these.” He held them out, and then wiggled his eyebrows. “Unless you wanna go naked. Won’t complain about that.”

Instead of laughing or rolling his eyes, a distinctly uncomfortable look appeared on the Omega’s face before he forced it away. “I…well, if you want me to.” Those words weren’t at all flirty or playful. Instead they were meek and quiet, like an offer he really didn’t want to make.

Lance froze. He stared at his mate, wondering what had doused those flames in him so thoroughly in the past two hours. He urged the pyjamas towards him and then made a show of turning away. “Come on, get comfy.”

There were no sounds from behind him for a moment, before he heard the bed creek as Keith got up. Lance couldn’t help but be worried enough to ignore the awkwardness in the air. Only turning around when he heard Keith sit again. The shirt was slightly tight along his chest and around his arms, but the pants were definitely a bit too long.

Lance sank onto the bed beside him, and said, “Tell me what’s wrong.”

Keith played with the fabric of the pants before saying, “You wanted to fall in love with someone. You wanted to learn to live with them, to fall in love. I took that away from you. I know you kind of said that before but I just…” He looked ashamed of himself. “I heard your friends talking earlier. They were wondering if, because I have _such_ a shitty past with Alphas, if I lured you in with like my scent or something. Because you were the first actual decent Alpha I’ve really talked to. Like how I got you and Hunk to sleep in the car. Latch onto the first decent Alpha that wasn’t related to me. I dunno if that’s possible, but I—I’m still sorry.”

Oh my god, he was going to _kill_ his friends. He knew that they probably didn’t mean much by it, but he was still annoyed. They weren’t there last night. He was still going to _beat_ them though.

Apparently put off by his prolonged silence, Keith added, “So, I…uh…it’s whatever you want now.”

At first, he didn’t understand, but then it hit Lance what Keith meant. He narrowed his eyes slightly, and shifted forward, causing Keith to lean back until he was resting against the pillow and Lance was hovering over him. “So, what? You think you forced yourself on me? So now you’re offering to let me do whatever I want to you since we’re stuck together?”

Keith said nothing, but he could see it in his eyes, smell it on him, that yes, that was exactly what he was getting at. He’d be a good Omega and allow his Alpha to take whatever he wanted without complaint.

That wouldn’t do at all.

“What I want? Okay.” Lance gave him a very quick peck on the lips and then flopped down beside him. “I wanna cuddle and go to sleep. Then I want you to go back to being you, and not like _this_ , you ridiculous Omega. The slightly bossy Keith that fights everything that slights him. That one.”

Keith looked over at him with an odd expression. “I…did you…”

Did he just _turn down_ an Omega, that happened to be his new mate, hinting that he could take whatever he wanted? He could have sex with him as much as he wanted? Have as many pups as he wanted? Damn right he did.

“I don’t care what started this,” Lance admitted. “I don’t. It doesn’t matter. Papá always says that if you focus on the past, it ruins the future. So maybe it happened. I don’t care. It changes nothing.” He nuzzled his nose into Keith’s neck. “We were getting along. Ignore my friends. Listen to me about what’s going on in my head, okay?” He hesitated for a moment before pressing a quick kiss against his neck, just above his bondmark. “Let’s go back to that?”

Keith twisted slightly to look back at him. He slowly nodded his head. “Okay.”

He didn’t sound completely sure, but that was okay. Lance didn’t know what to make of the fact that Keith got _so_ spooked by the idea that he might have hurt Lance by all of this. It was almost flattering, really. He didn’t like how he reacted to it though. Trying to instantly be a submissive Omega. He’d heard of it happening as a defensive thing before, but he had never actually seen it.

They laid side by side in silence for a little bit, but Lance still felt antsy. He looked over at Keith’s back, the Omega still facing away from him, before blurting out, “Can I hold you?”

Holy shit, had he _actually_ just said that?

Keith started slightly and then looked back at him oddly. There was a beat, and then the smallest smile appeared on his face and he nodded his head. Lance grinned broadly, scooting closer to him and wrapping his arms around him, burying his face in his hair.

Despite everything happening, he was able to fall asleep pretty easily after that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Birthday, Lance. Have a really insecure Omega!
> 
> This FBI team is basically just a mess and Pidge is superior to all of them. If only they could hire Omegas. 
> 
> So, where is Lotor? What about Shiro and Allura? Why are things going to get worse before they get better? 
> 
> Definitely more than 15 chapters in this story, but I don't know quite how many, so I'll leave that the same until I know for sure!
> 
> Thank you for the amazing response! You guys really make this all worth while! We're going to be getting cameos of other characters too. Care to guess who and how they might be showing up? 
> 
> OH! Also, who's excited? Season 7 is SO close! I'm PUMPED for it!


	11. Waking Up To This

For the second day in a row, Keith woke up confused about where he was, with a warm body next to him. This time though, the memories came back to him very quickly. He inhaled Lance’s warm, nutmeg smell and looked down to where one dark arm was wrapped around his waist.

Then he remembered the night before, and instantly felt mortified about how he acted. Holy shit, had he _really_ gone that dramatic that quickly? Good god. He needed someone around to smack him when he did that. Maybe Lance could do that for him. Without it being spousal abuse or anything.

It wasn’t cool that Lance’s friends were gossiping about him when he wasn’t there, but he had _discussed_ this with Lance before. He needed to trust that he meant what he said. It was hard sometimes, believing that someone was genuine and not just trying to get in his pants.

Then again, he had concrete proof that it wasn’t what Lance wanted, didn’t he? He had _offered_. Lance had refused. In a way, that could be insulting, but he was just relieved. It spoke a lot about his character.

God, Lance was the exact opposite of the last Alpha he had any kind of interest in, and the exact opposite of Lotor too. Those two, and many others, really didn’t know what ‘no’ meant.

Maybe he should tell Lance the truth about what happened a few years ago, not just the story he told everyone else.

No, not yet. That wasn’t something Keith wanted to focus on. He didn’t want to think about how he acted now. He was comfortable and selfishly didn’t want to get up to deal with whatever drama that was going to spike up that day.

So instead of getting up, he actually scooted back, pressing his back closer to Lance. What could he say? He felt safe and comfy.

He also felt something else pressing against him, and couldn’t hide the amused, unattractive snort that escaped his lips. Not a proper Omega sound _at all_. Lance jerked slightly behind him, muttering something before freezing when he realized what Keith had.

“Please don’t be awake,” Lance mumbled, more to himself than anything else.

“I’m awake,” Keith replied, unable to keep his amusement at bay.

“It’s not funny!” Lance cried out, no doubt _smelling_ the amusement rolling off of Keith. The Omega tried to hold in his laughter, but couldn’t stop his shoulders from shaking. Lance groaned.  “I swear! It’s a completely natural thing! It happens in the morning sometimes!”

“Lance,” Keith said slowly, looking over his shoulder to see his mate’s red face. “I’m a _male_ Omega. Like, I don’t just identify as male, I’ve got the junk to match. Generally speaking, male Omegas do, in fact, have dicks. I know what morning wood is.”

“Jesus Christ, don’t say it out loud like that!”

Keith chuckled and twisted around so that he could properly look at the embarrassed Alpha. Lance took one look at him, the blush on his cheeks fading away.

They stared at one another before Lance said, “You seem a lot happier.”

Keith nodded his head. “Yeah. I’m sorry for freaking out so badly last night. I was just…I don’t know. I guess I thought that…if this was my fault, and it kind of is, that I owed it to you to act like a…good Omega.” It was embarrassing to admit now.

“Well, don’t. I think normal Keith’s way more interesting.” Lance stretched out a bit, sitting up properly. “God, this is _so_ much better than waking up to the worst hangover ever.” His cheeks burned a bit. “Um, I’ll be back in a minute or two. You know. Bathroom.”

“That’s awfully fast to fix that problem.”

“Keith!” Lance cried out, and Keith just smirked at him, quite proud of himself. He snuggled back into the pillow when the Alpha got up and left the room.

With Lance gone, Keith suddenly had the extremely _powerful_ urge roll over and bury his face into the Alpha’s pillow, and to collect the blankets that had been around him. He had never felt this way before with either of his past boyfriends. It was crazy.

He lasted for all of a minute before rolling over. Everything smelled so much like the Alpha, that it actually made him preen a bit as he nestled himself into the pillow, tugging the blankets up under his chin. Keith sighed, releasing the tension that had built him within him without realizing it. He felt so comfortable and safe, under the sheets that Lance had occupied, and didn’t want to leave. Not to mention the clothes that he was wearing smelled like Lance too, even though they’d been on him all night.

In fact, he kind of felt like collecting everything and building it up around him for—

Keith’s eyes flew open. Son of a _bitch_. This was distinct pre-heat behaviour. He shouldn’t have been feeling like this for another couple days. Hopefully having a mate just made the symptoms show up earlier, but it wouldn’t start until it was supposed to? He _really_ didn’t need to deal with that right now.

Despite this revelation, Keith had yet to move. In fact, he closed his eyes again and curled up even more under the blankets. Not like he could really do anything about it there.

Lance came back into the room and paused, staring at him with an odd expression. It wasn’t judgemental, but so soft that it almost made Keith purr. He _really_ needed to control himself.

The Alpha sat beside him. “Don’t you look comfy.” He reached out and set his hand on the top of his head. A smile ticked up on his lips, no doubt feeling the vibrations from the light purring.

“Kinda want a nest,” Keith admitted, because that was something that Lance should probably know.

Lance tensed slightly and stared at him with wide eyes. “Aw shit. You’re probably going to go into heat earlier than normal.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement. If Lance’s family was as big as he claimed, surely he had seen this happen before.

Keith made a face at that, not wanting to go into heat early. Honestly, whatever hell-sent omniscient force that decided people had to suffer through those could launch itself into the sun.

Keith _knew_ it was a bigger problem than it would have been if they both lived within driving distance, or they had plans of staying for another week or so. He was going back with Lance to Florida, but he was probably almost to the cut-off point at being allowed on a plane.

That one, he could admit, wasn’t a stupid rule, it actually made sense. Recycled air with the stench of heat in with it? That was _asking_ for problems. Just because Keith wouldn’t react to other Alphas didn’t mean that other Alphas wouldn’t react to _him_ when he was in heat. Maybe no one would come after him, because he would smell like Lance too, but in a small spot like a plane, he could _very_ easily cause other Alphas to go into a rut, and that situation would be bad for everyone. Especially if there were any unmated Omegas around.

Not only that, but ruts could make Alphas increasingly violent. Not everyone and not all the time, but it happened, especially if someone already had a predisposition to violence.

Lance also didn’t exactly have the funding to stay in Vegas longer. Nor did Keith. Sure, Allura might, but still. He didn’t want to ask his sister-in-law if she could spring for a hotel room so he could suffer through heat. For all he knew, Lance would have to start work before that!

“Maybe we can cut this trip early?” the Alpha suggested, sitting down beside him. “I mean, we don’t know where Lotor is, and we can’t really go around Vegas anyway. Wouldn’t Florida be safer?”

It would be. Slowly, Keith nodded his head. His mind going back to Shiro and his mother. He kind of wanted to say goodbye to them face to face, even if it wouldn’t actually be goodbye. Lance was right, it absolutely would be safer though.

“I’m going to get cleaned up,” Keith muttered, forcing himself out of the blankets, even though he really didn’t want to. He moved towards his stuff, scowling at the clothes and going to the one that he had yesterday, when Lance stopped him.

“Nope, not doing that.” He dug through his stuff and tossed a plain blue shirt at him. “Jeans, yes? Shirts? Nah. Do you wanna get rid of your shampoo and stuff? Just in case. You can use mine.”

Keith made a face, he hadn’t thought about that at all. He couldn’t smell Lotor from anything in his bag, but it was probably best just to toss that type of stuff out. He didn’t even feel comfortable giving those clothes to people who needed them, but maybe if he washed them enough time, it would make him feel less guilty about giving people _those_ clothes.

Gathering up his clothes, Keith made his way to the bathroom, Lance following beside him with a bunch of bottles in his hands. Keith set his clothes on the counter, frowning at all of the different things that were there.

“I normally just use two-in-one and plain soap,” Keith noted, trying to parse the difference between body wash and face wash. The face was a part of the body, so why couldn’t he just use that if he had to use one of them?

Lance’s pained sound prompted him to look up, concerned that the Alpha had hurt himself on something. There were no injuries, but he certainly looked terrified. “I can’t believe you.”

“What?”

“Your skin is so _nice_ , and that’s all you do?” Lance said, sounding so distressed about that. He ran a hand over Keith’s cheek, the skin warming in its wake. “How’s that fair? I have to do everything or I end up with pores a mile wide!” He pouted. “Also, you’re lucky, your facial hair doesn’t grow fast, does it?”

Keith shook his head, feeling amused more than anything else now. “No. It’s slow going. Would take me _forever_ to grow a beard.” He nudged him. “Thanks for letting me use your stuff. And the clothes.”

“Hey, we’re partners, right? I’d like to think you’d do the same for me,” Lance said with a grin. “I mean, we’re basically the same size, right?”

Keith nodded his head, because that was true enough. He got the impression that he liked slightly more fitted clothes compared to Lance, but that was fine. They could work with that.

“I’ll be out in a few minutes,” Keith said. “Then you can take a shower.” Lance nodded in return and left the room, and the Omega took a moment to just breathe.

It took him a moment to figure out how to use the taps, but he eventually got it to a nice lukewarm temperature (he never liked showers that hot anyway, but in heat or pre-heat it was always recommended using a lukewarm, but not completely cold, shower), shedding the clothes Lance gave him before stepping in.

It felt nice to actually have a shower, not like that really quick bath he had yesterday. Though to be fair he had zoomed through washing himself off as quickly as he could, because he didn’t want to be caught in a bathtub when Lance came out. At least with the robe he had _something_ on at the time.

It was _insane_ to think that it had only happened 24 hours ago. It almost didn’t feel real, like it was a fever dream, hallucination, or something.

Keith ran a hand over the mark on his neck, a permanent scar that would always leave a bit of Lance’s scent on him, one that would add something to Keith’s own scent that allowed others to know that he was taken.

It was honestly kind of weird to be going around without his collar on, but in a way, it was kind of freeing. Of course, he would forever advocate for all unmated Omegas to have them, just to keep themselves safer.

It had certainly saved him once.

Trying not to think of that, Keith worked on washing his hair. He was sure that it was going to be another long day.

…

Lance sighed as he closed the bathroom door behind him, he turned to head back towards his room, jumping nearly a good in the air when he came face to face with Pidge. “Holy crow! Where did you come from?”

“Were you _really_ in the bathroom with Keith?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

He scowled at her. “Yeah, I was carrying my haircare products and stuff, since we’re throwing out his from the hotel. Just in case.” He grabbed her arm, dragging her back towards Hunk’s room. “And the four of us are having a little chat.” Matt peaked out of the room he was sharing with his sister. “Yes, you too. Come.”

Hunk looked up as they walked in. Lance waited until Matt and Pidge had come in before closing the door and crossing his arms in front of him. “So, I hear that you were doing some _gossiping_ last night.”

“What?” Hunk’s eyes went wide. “How did—“

Pidge cut him off with a groan. “Oh god. Keith heard us, didn’t he?” Her shoulders slumped down.

“You bet he did,” Lance said with a nod of his head. “See, he and I had talked about what happened. Can’t change it, but we were in a good place with it. Then he overheard people gossiping while I was asleep and he freaked out thinking that he had accidentally forced me to bond with him.

“Oh jeez,” Matt sighed. “How bad did he react?”

“You know that kind of flight or fight response that Omegas _sometimes_ have where they get all submissive around their mates?” It was something that _rarely_ ever happened, which said a lot to how upset Keith had been at the thought that he may have accidentally hurt Lance that way.

Hunk looked positively horrified by this revelation. “We didn’t mean for that to happen. We were just talking and were worried about you!” Matt and Pidge nodded in agreement.

“I know,” Lance agreed. That was something he could genuinely agree with and understand. His friends wouldn’t have gone out of their way to hurt Keith purposely. They weren’t like that. “You guys are awesome like that! But Keith’s not going anywhere. He’s my mate! I want him to be able to hang around with us, because…well…”

He didn’t want to say that if it came down to picking between them and Keith, he’d probably end up picking Keith. He didn’t want to say it, because it was so insane. These were his friends that he had known for _years_ , and he was willing to pick a guy that he had known for a day.

The thing is though, Keith was his _mate._ He was the person that Lance was going to share his life with. The person that Lance was going to live with, and come home to every day. The person he was going to have a family with a few years down the road.

“I shouldn’t have looked him up online,” Pidge said suddenly. “I’ll apologize.”

Lance nodded his head in agreement, then stopped. “Wait, what?”

“Nothing big, just a police report. It’s what made us talk about him, because it was a bad situation with this Alpha and—“

“Oh! Yeah, that. He told me.” Lance didn’t need to know details, even if they apparently knew now. They seemed a bit surprised, prompting him to cross his arms. “What? We talked about a lot yesterday! We’re _trying_ to make this work. Both of us.” Lance didn’t _want_ to have to lecture his friends, but they kind of deserved it this time around, even if they weren’t _trying_ to be malicious and were just worried about him.

Good lord, how did _he_ become group dad? Hunk was supposed to be the group mom!

The sound of a door opening in the hall caused him to perk up. He looked out and saw Keith exiting the bathroom, rubbing a towel over his messy, black hair. Ire rose up in him almost instantly. “Keith!”

The Omega jumped and looked at him. “What?”

Lance marched over to him and pointed at the towel in his hand. “You’re not supposed to _assault_ your hair with a towel! That can give it dead ends! You’re supposed to squeeze it!”

Keith blinked twice before making directly eye contact with him, holding his gaze as he reached up and rubbed the towel vigorously against his hair.  He then turned on his heel and went back towards their room, leaving his mate spluttering in the hall.

Pidge snorted, peering from the doorway of the other room. “I dunno what we were worried about. He can clearly handle you the way you need to be handled.”

Lance shot an annoyed look over his shoulder at her before running into the bathroom. “I’m next then!”

“What? No! You’ll use all the hot water! Lance!”

  
Lance ignored his friends, happily locking the door behind him, ready to have a shower and get himself properly clean. He had an Omega to impress, after all.

…

Breakfast was a rather bland meal of toast that made Lance long for the food from the Olkarion that he and Keith had eaten yesterday. That had been the best breakfast that he had for a while.

Not to mention this was somehow even _more_ awkward. He wasn’t quite sure how sitting in a room with his friends and some FBI agents was worse than waking up naked, mated, and married to a stranger, but here they were.

Kolivan walked into the room, instantly gaining everyone’s attention. He nodded at the other agents in the room before looking at them. “As we discussed last night, this trafficking ring that you have uncovered is much larger than you think. We have even suspected Daizabaal Industries, however, we were never able to procure enough proof to obtain a warrant. Not until Mr. and Miss. Holt here found concrete proof. We are not willing to give up this lead, but we need to make this as legal and airtight as we can. We need every bit of evidence we can get on Lotor’s unsavory actions.”

“Does trying to drug me twice count?” Keith asked. “Along with putting my brother in the hospital?”

“Yes. From what I understand you’ve already done tests. We have people getting video proof that he was the one to place the drugs.” Kolivan nodded at him. “Though many people don’t care about an individual Omega it happened to, they would care if it was posed as him being a threat to many.” It was so blunt that it almost made Lance wince, but it was hands down the truth.

“You guys are good. What do you need from us? Testimony that he’s a creep?” That, Lance could do. Give the testimony and then go chill or something. Did the backyard of this house have a pool? It looked like the kind of place that would. Or maybe they could get Keith new clothes.  It sounded like a great time

His eyes turned towards his mate. His parents had told him that when he found a mate, he would want to be around them almost constantly for the first little while. Being apart wouldn’t be painful or anything dramatic like that, it wasn’t like there was some spiritual connection where they’d die without the other or anything. He just really wouldn’t like being away from him. It was crazy how right they were, and he really hoped that Keith felt the same.

“Yes. We would like to interview each of you one at a time,” Kolivan said with a nod of his head. He turned his attention towards Keith. “Mr. Kogane, we would like to start with you. We have recording equipment set up in the living room.”

Keith nodded in agreement, stretching as he stood up. He made a thoughtful sound. “If you’re looking for people to talk to Lotor about, my _just_ fired my sister and her mate at the hospital yesterday. I’m sure neither of them are happy with him.”

Kolivan looked towards the agent named Regris, who nodded his head at the silent command. Kolivan then led Keith into the living room.

“So what do we do for now?” Hunk wondered.

“You’re welcome to anywhere in the upper level of the house, and the back yard, but that’s it for now,” Regris answered as he worked on his computer. “We’ll get you when we need you.”

It was reluctantly decided that they’d all retreat upstairs for another movie.

“Kinda lame that our vacation ended up as this, huh?” Pidge asked as she leaned back against the wall, holding her laptop on her lap.

Lance grimaced. “Yeah, sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Hunk assured him. “It’s…well…I guess it’s a bunch of things together, right?” His hand gently rested over his new tattoo.

“So,” Matt spoke up his eyes locking onto Lance. “Since we kind of jumped the gun last night without asking, how _are_ you doing? I mean, we discovered an underground trafficking ring, Hunk ended up in jail with a new tattoo, which, I’m sorry, that’s actually kind of funny because it’s you. Tattoos aside, we can walk away from this. It’s not _that_ life changing. You can’t.”

Pidge shot Hunk an apologetic look, and he just sighed and shook his head before looking back at Lance.

He tried to keep his face straight, but knew he wavered a bit. “I screwed up _so_ badly. But like…it’s not Keith’s fault?”

Hunk made a hesitant disagreeing sound. “Well I mean, _technically_ you could twist it that way. I mean, Lotor’s after him, right? Lotor tried to drug him? Right?”

Pidge bristled at that, looking ready to throw down, despite the fact that she was a small Omega and Hunk was a massive Alpha. “What an Alpha way to look at it. Blame the Omega for all the problems, even when it’s not their fault.”

“Pidge, _you_ did that earlier.”

“I know! I know I did.” She looked down, clearly ashamed of herself. “It was stupid of me.”

Sometimes Lance genuinely forgot that Pidge was an Omega. Her parents paid for the best suppressants possible, and she was smart about them, taking them so that they wouldn’t harm her or cause lasting issues that any dynamic could face. Yes, her scent reminded him almost of toffee, but it wasn’t intense like some Omegas who smelled like they wandered out of a sweetshop or bakery.

Suppressants _could_ completely nullify personal scents, making people nose-blind to one another. Lance knew that the military did that amongst many others, and it made sense. It was often required at boarding schools as well. It didn’t stop heats and ruts, but it could make them easier to deal with if handled properly. It was always encouraged for Omegas to get off of their suppressants leading up to a heat, and doing so usually meant an easier one with less clouded thoughts. Those who didn’t do that almost always ended up going through a massive heat.

It was why Lance didn’t always associate Pidge with being an Omega. He had never felt that particular draw towards her, even though he was only two years older than her and there was nothing wrong with that age difference at all. Maybe it was because he saw her as a younger sibling starting from before she presented. Familial bonds didn’t necessarily require a biological connection, which made them super interesting for people to study.

Other people could tell that Pidge was an Omega though, since she _didn’t_ have the suppressants that could entirely block her scent (she had the healthiest ones though). She _knew_ what it was like to deal with people that wouldn’t take no for an answer. Though she had a solid family unit with the three of them plus her parents, so she didn’t get into problems like Keith seemed to. Even so, she wasn’t going to let them get away with any Alpha-typical bullshit on her watch.

“I didn’t mean it that way,” Hunk said, breaking Lance out of his thoughts. “I just meant that this unfortunately followed him to us! It’s Lotor’s fault it’s happening, but it’s Keith’s fault it came to us.”

“That’s exactly what Keith thinks too. You know that. That’s why he freaked out so badly last nice because _you guys_ were gossiping,” Lance spoke up before Pidge could say anything else. “But like…I actually _really_ like him. I think that if the whole drugging thing wouldn’t have happened, I would have wanted to keep in contact with him. I would have wanted to chase after him. It was why I suggested bonding first to get Lotor away, then do everything else. God, drugged me doesn’t like thinking about specifics, does he? And you know, we talked a bit and maybe we can work it out? And you know, I might have _still_ bonded with him last night even if we were drugged.” He could feel his face flushing as he remembered back to Keith tugging him into a kiss, kissing him in return, cuddling. He was just going to throw it out there, being pretty damn close to the same height? It was awesome. No tippy-toes or aching necks.

Matt raised an eyebrow. “What’s that look for?”

“Well,” he said, dragging out the L sound. “We kind of…kissed yesterday. And it was really nice? And I want to keep doing it? And I think I could really picture it working out right?”  
  
“You big sap,” Pidge said with a laugh.

He made a face at her. “But I’m also annoyed about this whole thing. Lotor being a little bitch and having a hissy fit? That’s one thing. A fucking _trafficking ring_ that the FBI has been trying to crack for _years_? Good god. I just want to have a normal vacation.” He paused at that. “Maybe with Keith added in.”

The other three all exchanged looks, and Lance _hated_ when they did this. Sometimes it felt like they had made a science club that he wasn’t invited to because he wasn’t a complete genius like them. He was smart, and he did like science, but it was in a different sense. Math might not have exactly been his thing, but he was awesome with animals and biology.

“What now?”

“It’s just, it’s weird but also kind of _nice_ to see you acting like this again?” Hunk admitted. “I know…I know I have my reservations about this, yeah, but like, this is the first you’ve acted like, well, _you_ in a long time.”

“Since the ho-that-shall-not-be-named,” Pidge added helpfully, laughing as her brother lightly wacked the back of her head. 

Matt rolled his eyes and said, “For what it’s worth, I noticed something…interesting this morning.”

“What’s that?”

“Keith looks at you like my dad looks at my mom. Like, just by being you – by being a good person – it’s like you make everything better.”

Lance couldn’t stop his face from burning, and a high pitched whine escaped him. All of his friends laughed at him, and he scrambled to find something to get the attention off of him while he took in that information and composed himself. “But I can’t believe you guys found evidence of a trafficking ring when the FBI couldn’t. That’s _madly_ impressive.”

The change of topic was a successful one. Pidge was positively beaming with excitement. “There’s a reason we’re on their watch list.” She held her hand up to Matt, who quickly gave her a well-coordinated, loud high five.

“That’s my sister!” the Beta positive gushed. “The most dangerous Omega in the world!”

“You know it!”

The two of them launched into the more in-depth story of how they made their discovery. It was obvious that Hunk was getting into it, and while Lance was interested, some of the technical jargon flew over his head.

That as fine though. This was what he wanted. Just a moment of peace.

…

The chairs that they were waiting on weren’t exactly uncomfortable, but Keith couldn’t find a place to settle. He felt like he had to keep shuffling around, like things weren’t quite right yet.

He knew this feeling though, and it had nothing to do with the chair. This was the feeling he always got when his heat was coming closer. He was always diligent at setting things up beforehand when it came to his nest, though he always seemed to forget about food and water until the last minute.

Every Omega approached nesting differently, and most people assumed that Keith was a minimalist in that respect. Simple and straightforward. Those people would be dead wrong. Yes, during any other time, Keith could fall asleep anywhere he felt secure. Normal bed? Awesome. Bare ground? He’ll make do.

Many Omegas loved feeling soft fabrics against their skin, and he was no different, especially during his heats. Only the softest fabrics and the squishiest pillows would do. He also needed something shielding him from people looking in at him. He basically made a giant, super comfortable pillow fort.

If he were home, he would already be looking around for the blankets, sheets, and pillows he had collected over time. He wasn’t at home though, and that was making him a little antsy. Just last night he had been fine, so waking up feeling so clingy to everything that Lance touched was a little bit startling. He wasn’t supposed to deal with this for another couple of days.

His eyes glanced up towards the door Lance had gone through to talk to Kolivan accusingly. Keith had _heard_ of this happening, where a bonding could prompt a heat to start early. It was actually very difficult to interrupt an Omega’s heat cycle all together, but a day or two wasn’t uncommon, and Keith liked Lance’s scent, it made him feel safe.

This jerk was probably going to send him into an early heat. It still wouldn’t be for another few says, and it was possible he could curb it until it was supposed to come, but it was probably going to be difficult.

“There you are!”

Keith jumped and looked around at Pidge, blinking with surprise. “Uh, yeah?”

“Come on, we found a game system and managed to hook it up.” Keith continued to just stare at her. “You know, to play?”

“You want me to come with you?” he asked unsurely. Now that they weren’t in the bright lights of the Vegas Strip, he almost felt uncomfortable being around Lance’s friends. That probably had more to do with his new status as Lance’s mate though.

Pidge nodded her head, and Keith reluctantly decided to go with her. He was going to have to get used to being around Lance’s friends, because he certainly didn’t want to do anything to come in between them.

Matt and Hunk were already in the midst of a fighting game when they showed up, barely casting them a glance. Keith sat beside Pidge, keeping some space between them.

“So,” she spoke up. “We wanted to say that we were…you know…sorry about what we said last night.”

He frowned and said, “How did you—ugh, Lance. Don’t worry about it.” He didn’t want any of Lance’s friends to pity him or try to get on his good side. He didn’t need someone to act fake around him.

“No, really,” Hunk said as his character lost and Matt cheered, turning to look at them. “It wasn’t cool of us.”

Keith shrugged, not quite used to people apologizing to him. “You were just protecting your friend.” He looked down at his gloved hands. “And I _did_ bring this whole mess to you.”

“Hey now,” Pidge said, crossing her arms. “I was the one that decided to hack the douchebag. Don’t take that from me.”

He couldn’t tell if she was serious, or being goofy, and he didn’t really want to assume. It was _nice_ of them to apologize to him, to reach out since they were Lance’s friends and he was Lance’s mate. He just found it hard to deal with people he didn’t know like this.  

Reaching for his phone to fiddle with, Keith realized that he left it downstairs. He stood again, drawing attention to him. “I’ll be back.” He left, going down the hall and down the stairs.

He took a deep breath. God, that had been _so_ awkward. Painfully show. Hopefully he’d get used to them, and they’d go back to how they acted before all of this had happened.

Keith knew he wasn’t exactly _good_ at making friends. He was a hothead who had only more recently learned how to curb and control his temper, how to stay calm and collected for the most part. He’d had his sister and his brother, and Allura, but that was pretty much it.

He hadn’t really blended while with the friend groups that his ex-boyfriends had belonged to. Some of them had been downright hostile to him, but for the most part, he either just didn’t hang out with them, or just sat around not talking to anyone.

If he was going to be honest, Keith kind of dreaded that happening this time around. It was different. There most likely wasn’t going to be any kind of breakup, so Lance’s friends were going to be stuck with him.

Well, that wasn’t _entirely_ true. Though exceedingly rare to the point where it may have been a myth, there was no reason an Alpha and an Omega couldn’t technically leave one another. There would always be that tiny, paranoid part of them that could only take comfort from their mate, yes, and huts or heats would be utterly _miserable_ , but pushing past that, there was no reason someone couldn’t just up and leave.

Okay, if an Omega did it without permission they would be sent back to their spouse.

He thought back on what Lotor had said about ‘renting’ him and shuddered. Cheating was something that could happen to, though the majority didn’t.

Despite how bad things seemed, the vast majority of people _were_ happy with their mates and their situation. It was just that the percentage of people that were unhappy weren’t just _slightly_ unhappy, they were usually in terribly violent situations. The in-betweens were there, but not nearly as common.

Keith stopped as he picked up his phone, blinking with surprise when he realized that Lance’s was there too. The Alpha must have left it when he went to go talk to Kolivan.

Sighing, Keith turned on the screen to see if his mother, Allura, or Shiro had sent him anything. Instead, a terribly familiar number stared up at him, one that wasn’t saved on his phone.

He turned to go and find one of the agents, tapping in his password and going to the messages. Before he could even get into the hallway, he froze, staring at the screen with wide eyes as his hands started to shake.

What greeted him wasn’t a disgusting message. It was a picture. If it was something like a dick pic, he’d just delete it, but it wasn’t like that at all.

It was his sister, hands bound behind her back on a chair, slumped forward. Her hair was in front of her face, but Keith could still see the bruises and the blood. He could see Ezor sitting on a chair a few feet away, tied up and knocked out.

Below it was a simple message followed by an address. **Come to this address alone. Tell anyone where you’re going, or bring anyone, and she dies.**

Keith’s hands shook as he stared at the pictures. He couldn’t leave her there like that, he could. Maybe he could get the FBI to help him, get to her before Lotor caught on to what was happening.

Was he really willing to risk that though? These were the guys who had been chasing a trafficking ring for years, when Pidge came in and found it in a couple hours. And the police, though not the same ones that handled the incident back home, still made him wary. No one ever took him seriously.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Keith looked down at the table, eyes settling on Lance’s phone. Lance would never let him go. Well, no, he probably wouldn’t forbid it or anything, but he’d try to stop him, try to help him.

Keith wasn’t used to people trying to help him. He was used to doing things on his own.

Getting out of the house was surprisingly not that hard. Then again, the couple agents that were in the house were either working on something else, or were looking to keep people _out_. Keith was very good and sneaking in and out of places.

Guilt rushed through him, but he didn’t look back as he put distance between himself and the safe house. It was probably for the best.

…

Lance groaned as he stretched out. God, these investigators were incredibly thorough. He supposed that it was a good thing though, since they could use his testimony without him actually having to go to court if that’s where this was (hopefully) going.

He patted his pocket, frowning when he realized that his phone was gone. The last place he remembered seeing it was the kitchen, so he made his way there at the same time that the door opened.

“Allura? Shiro?” he asked with way more familiarity than he technically should have, since he didn’t actually know them.

Despite this the two of them smiled as they came through the door.

“Because he’s a doctor and can monitor me, Ulaz managed to convince the hospital to let me ‘go home’,” Shiro answered his unasked question.

“This is actually a nice little home,” Allura added, looking around the safe house like it was a quaint cottage. If she thought this was small, Lance didn’t want to see what she thought a big house looked like.

“Where’s Keith?” Shiro wondered, worry tinting his voice. Not that Lance could blame him, this whole situation was a mess.

“Not sure, I just got done with my interview.” He frowned as he looked into the kitchen. Nope, no phone _or_ mate there. “Maybe he’s with my friends upstairs.” Instead of walking all the wall up, he took a deep breath and yelled, “Yo guys! Keith’s brother is here! Send him down! With my phone if you can!”

He had always been very proud of how loud he could project.

“He’s not up here, dingus!” Pidge called back, peaking around the corner. “He went down to the kitchen to get his phone and never came back. We thought he was with you!”

Lance froze at that. Keith was most definitely _not_ in the kitchen. Dread rushed over him, and he completely ignored Shiro and Allura as he took off to the bedroom that he had shared with his mate the night before. He wasn’t there, nor was he in the bathroom.

Okay, there was no need to panic. He could be outside, or somewhere else. Lance tried to keep calm and cool as he hurried through the house, checking high and low for his mate. Well, no. He actually ran around like a crazy person, drawing the attention of everyone else, including the two newcomers.

“What’s wrong?” Hunk asked him, clearly concerned as his crazy behaviour.

Lance felt like he was going to throw up. “Keith’s gone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I said earlier on tumblr, someone does something really stupid. It's definitely, super hard to pick out here. Really hard. Nearly impossible.
> 
> Isn't that right _Keith_?
> 
> Thank you so much for all your amazing comments! I'm ALWAYS torn between choosing whether or not to share my thoughts, or to keep them on the dl so I don't spoil things. I just want to do both. AH. 
> 
> And season 7 is SO close. I'm so pumped for it!
> 
> Also, before that comes out, I'm going to post a giant-ass analysis on Lance's character development on tumblr since I'm so salty about people always complaining that he doesn't get any. I've divided it up into five sections, and one of those sections is divided up into thirteen parts, and I'm only on part 3/13 and it's already 7 pages long. Literally fight me if you believe he doesn't have character development. Imma slap you with an essay longer than most of what I turned out for uni sometime this week. Maybe I'll put it on here too. We'll see!
> 
> On that note, again, thank you so much! Hit me up here or over on [tumblr](https://storiesbeyondthestars.tumblr.com/) (even if it's just anonymous asks) if you're curious about anything! Sometimes I even drop small little hints and teases on there too.


	12. Taken

“ _How_ does the _FBI_ let a key witness, someone they’re supposed to be protecting in their own safe house, just walk away and _vanish_?”

Lance had to be impressed at just how terrifying Allura could sound. Her accent gave away the fact that she had grown up in England at some point, and it became even more prominent with her anger.

He actually felt a little bit numb, and it was almost like things were going in slow motion. Maybe part of it was just because he wasn’t a god-awful person, and someone he knew had fled safety for reasons unknown and was probably heading into a lot of trouble. Maybe it was because his new mate didn’t trust him enough to tell him what was going on. Maybe it was that deep, instinctual, ridiculous Alpha part of him that was frothing over the fact that his Omega was gone.

Closing his eyes for a moment, before looking around at everyone else. Allura was still ripping into Thace. Shiro was trying to get a hold of Keith again and again, as if he’d turn on his cellphone at any moment. Pidge was working on her computer with Matt and Hunk hovering nervously behind her.

Even the younger agents that were there seemed a bit nervous.

Lance fiddled with his hands, wishing that he had something to do with them. He blinked a few times, eyes narrowing. “My phone’s gone.”

Hunk looked up at him, concern on his face. “I think we have a bigger problem here, Buddy.”

“No. I mean. My phone was here. Keith was here. Keith’s phone was here. Now he’s gone.” Okay, it really sounded like just was just babbling.

So he wasn’t at all surprised when Matt sent him a sympathetic look. “Lance…”

Shiro suddenly stopped pacing with his phone, looking at Lance. “So Keith probably took it with him too. Why take two phones unless…” He trailed off, eyes traveling over the equipment that belonged to both Pidge and Agent Regris. “…Unless you have a reason to think yours may have been hacked, but another one might be a bit safer.”

Pidge’s eyes went wide as she paused. “Look for Lance’s phone too! Got it!” Her fingers were flying again.

“I don’t get it. Why would he leave?” Hunk wondered. “We’re safe here. I mean, it was a bit awkward but not enough to take off! Like, he’s in more dangerous than anyone else. Isn’t it a bit dumb to run off and not tell anyone? Cause it’s not like he was just taking off from Lance or anything because you guys are here.” He motioned towards Shiro and Allura. “So where else would he go, right?”

Regris had been watching them, before turning and looking out the window. He paled and said, “Oh no.”

Hunk kept going despite this, ignoring the front door opening and footsteps coming towards them. “I mean, Lotor’s a crazy person. Completely nuts. Selling Omegas nuts. And Keith, the Omega he’s been stalking, ran off and no we have no idea where he is. That’s insane!”

There was a pause, and then the door flew open causing everyone to jump, and Lance was pretty sure that he nearly had a heart attack.

A tall woman with pale skin, vibrant purple eyes, and an absolutely fierce expression stormed into the room. Lance cringed away from her, not wanting to be in her path, but was unable to take his eyes from her. She had raven hair that was dyed pink underneath, and good _god_ , was that a _rattail_?

Lance was positive that he had never seen this woman in his life, but at the same time, there was something striking familiar about that fierce glare.

“Kolivan!” she _shouted_ at the agent as she stormed over to him. “What is the meaning of this?”

Kolivan straightened up and stared at the woman almost warily. “Krolia…”

“Don’t Krolia me!”

Wait, Lance knew that name. His heart started pounding in his chest. What was even going on?

“What did that boy just say?” She pointed at Hunk. “Where is my son? And do you have any idea about my daughter?”

Shiro took that moment to snap out of his surprise, taking a step forward. “Krolia? What—“

Her expression softened as she glanced towards him. “One moment, Shiro.” She looked back at Kolivan, once again fierce. “What is that about my _son_ being missing while he’s being _stalked_ by a dangerous predator and _you_ were supposed to watch him?”

“Krolia,” Kolivan replied sternly. “You are a civilian now. You were brought here for safety, _not_ to be a part of this investigation.”

“Who…?” Pidge looked around with wide eyes.

Oh god. _Oh god_. Lance knew _exactly_ who this woman was. This was Keith’s mother, and Lance had no fucking clue what was going on anymore.

“This is Krolia, Keith’s mother,” Allura introduced, looking just as stunned at the rest of them that she was there.

Lance stared at the woman with wide eyes, more than a bit confused and intimidated. He got the feeling that things just went from bad to worse for him.

…

Keith paid the cab with some cash, not bothering to get the change back. He stepped aside, watching it leave before looking down the road. He hadn’t gotten out at the exact address Lotor told him to, but he could still see the building.

He was surprised that someone who was so spoiled would come to such a run-down place, but then again, he was running and incredibly shady business. This was the perfect scene for that type of thing.

Of course, there were a few people lingering around, a few cars parked on the side of the road. He ignored them, but stayed completely on guard. Mated or not, he was _still_ an Omega wandering around in a rather sketchy place on his own. Sure, he could handle himself, but no one else would know that.

A breeze picked up as he walked by a young woman with long, blonde hair. She inhaled and then looked up at him doing a double take and just staring at him. Okay, given _how_ many Omegas had gone missing lately, especially in big cities, him wandering around was probably super weird.

He eyed the cars and trucks that he walked by, not seeing anyone in them. When he got to the non-descript building, he looked around, but couldn’t see anyone nearby. He couldn’t smell anyone either, but that didn’t mean much. Scent blockers were a thing.

Slowly, Keith crept into the building. There, in plain sight, was his sister and her mate, tied up and beaten exactly as the pictures showed.

Keith moved without thinking, running over and crouching down in front of her. “Acxa.” He patted her cheek gently. “Acxa, wake up.” It took a moment, but her eyes slowly blinked open with a groan. She stared in front of her blankly, before they suddenly widened and she started to panic. The gag tied around her was far too tight to make any proper sounds though. “It’s okay. One sec.” He managed to untie it, letting it fall.

“It’s a trap!” she said wildly. “I didn’t think you’d—you need to run.”

Keith knew that. He really, truly did know that. He wasn’t stupid. Pulling out his phone, he shoved it between her legs and went to untie her. “I know that! I wasn’t going to leave you here though! You’re my si—“

“No!” Acxa screamed, her voice high and shrill enough to wake up Ezor behind her.

Something slammed into the back of Keith’s head, sending him reeling forward into his sister. “Shiro, FBI,” he muttered, and then was yanked backwards, thrown to the floor. Dazed, he saw a figure looming over him, rolling out of the way of whoever it was. He got to his feet, _sprinting_ out the door. The bright sunlight stung thanks to his new headache, and he probably had a concussion, because he wasn’t able to run right.

Once again, something grabbed him from behind and threw him to the ground. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the blonde woman from earlier watching with horror from around a corner. He couldn’t blame her for staying quiet. It was safer.

For some reason, he kept his eyes locked on her as he felt something prick his neck. Everything went blurry, and then his head fell to the ground, and everything went dark.

…

Lance was sitting with his head in his hands. This was an _actual_ nightmare. How had this happened? How had they gotten caught up in this kind of mess?

He could hear Keith’s mother arguing with the FBI agents, almost everyone else getting into it as well.

Helping an Omega away from a creepy Alpha? Done without hesitation. Mating with that Omega? Probably not the smartest decision, but it was what it was. Dealing with the fact that creepy Alpha drugged said Omega’s brother? Not cool at all and getting sketchy. Finding out that he was potentially _running_ a slave trade? Beyond sketchy and not something they should be involved with. Having said Omega vanish when they know that he was being stalked? That was the breaking point for him.

Huffing out loud, Lance got up and started pacing round the room. He honestly just wanted to go home. He wanted to go and curl up in his own bed and pretend like this had never happened. Except it had happened, and he had no intentions of going home alone.

Keith had agreed to come with him, had agreed to try to work things out. Now Keith was gone, and had been long enough for someone like Lotor to find him, especially if he had gone full steam ahead into a trap.

God, Lance wanted Keith back so much. He knew his mother did too. He knew his brother and sister-in-law did, but dammit, Keith was his _mate_.

He was allowed to be freaked out. Even if it was a stranger that he didn’t really know at all, Lance would still be worried about them. His mate that he had spent the whole day purposely getting to know though? The one that had been so upset at even the potential of hurting him? The one that had cuddled with him and honestly led to one of the best sleeps Lance had in months? The mate that he felt affection for and could easily see himself falling in love with after spending more time together? That was a different thing all together.

He didn’t care much about how dynamics _should_ act, but he knew there was a scientific, real basis for some things. Heats made Omegas more vulnerable. That was something they knew. Ruts made Alphas more aggressive. Again, proven. Betas were impervious to the pull of heat and rut pheromones. This was a fact.

It was also a fact that he kind of wanted to coddle Keith right now, even though Keith wasn’t someone that needed to be coddle. Perhaps though, from what he’d seen so far, a part of him _wanted_ that. If it came from a genuine place.

It didn’t matter right there, because Keith wasn’t with them. He had left on his own for some unknown reason, probably having to do with Lotor.

Lance had made it very clear that he wasn’t going to try to control Keith. He wasn’t going to lock him in a room to have pup after pup, only to let him out to cook, clean, or to show off at family functions. He made it clear that they were going to be partners. Equals. So it hurt that Keith hadn’t trusted him with whatever was going on. It also completely infuriated a deep, dark part of him that was screaming about _his_ Omega being in trouble.

“Would you sit down!” Pidge snapped at him, clearly on edge as well. Technically speaking, she was the one that had set all of this into motion for them. Pidge liked to come across like things didn’t bother her, but Lance knew that she was probably nervous, probably ready to blame herself if something bad happened.

That being said, he couldn’t stop himself from being agitated too. “Me walking around doesn’t stop you from doing what you’re doing,” he snapped back.

“Guys, guys, chill,” Hunk said, holding him up his hands. “This is stressful for everyone, yeah, but we can’t rip each other’s throats out.” He paused in thought. “How is this even our lives right now? I thought we’d be blowing all our money on stores, sight-seeing and all that stuff..”

“Blame Lance,” Pidge said before anyone else could say anything. “He’s the one who couldn’t keep it in his pants.”

“Excuse me?” Lance wheeled around and stared at her with wide eyes. “ _You_ were the one that hacked the evil billionaire. This is on you.”

“You were the one that brought him over to us!”

“This _again_? What happened to being cool with having another cryptid loving Omega around and not blaming the victim? What happened to apologizing to him?” Lance sighed and flopped down onto the floor. He took a few deep breaths and said, “Yeah, I know this is my fault. I know. But it doesn’t matter, does it? This is what it is right now and I’m just…worried.” He let out a bitter laugh. “Is it weird to care so much about a person you just met like a day ago?”

“Not entirely,” Matt said with a shake of his head, catching Lance’s attention. “Look, you guys are already mates. There’s a reason that’s a big deal. You’re drawn towards one another now on a chemical and hormonal level, and some even say that bonds create a sort of spiritual link. I’m not so sure about that one, it’s not the point. But you’re going to worry and care for one another.”

“That’s not always true though. Sometimes Alphas take an Omega and the Omega hates them, you know that,” Hunk pointed out. Pidge pointed at him in agreement.

“Fair,” Matt decided before looking back at Lance. “That wasn’t the case here though. Think about it this way. You can meet someone at a bar, hang out with them for a bit, and set up a date with them. You can be set up on a blind date, spend a few hours with them, and decide that you really like them. You can meet someone on your first day of classes and bond with them. Spending an entire day together with them, trying to get to know one another, already seeing each other in pretty low situations? Yeah, that’s more than enough to lay the foundation for a relationship of any kind. I mean, yeah, you skipped everything and went right to mates part, but your plan was to work from there, so it looks to me like you’re doing a pretty good job.”

“Too long, did not read: your feelings are valid,” Pidge summarized. Matt rolled his eyes.

“What a way to start a relationship, bringing down a human trafficking ring,” Hunk said thoughtfully.

“Definitely memorable,” Lance agreed, but he was unable to laugh at that.

“And what did your parents have to say about this?”

Lance jumped, looking over his shoulder to see Allura. She made her way over to the group, apparently tired of arguing to people who were no doubt overlooking her because she was an Omega.

Only slightly put off, Lance said, “You think I _told_ them? Really? Ah. No. I’m going to tell them when Keith’s right there beside me so they can be all distracted by him.” His shoulders slumped.

“Keith is reckless,” Allura said slowly. “But not in a completely idiotic way.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means he looks at the factors around him and reacts to it on the fly, even if it means he gets hurt in the process.” Once again, Lance careened his head around, eyes widening when he saw Keith’s mother, Shiro following her closely. “This wouldn’t be a problem though if someone had done their job right.” She glared over her shoulder at Kolivan fiercely.

“Krolia—“

“I was onto Daizabaal! I gave you everything I had!”

“You chose to leave.”

“I would have had to anyway. I don’t regret choosing my _family_ ,” she sneered at the agent.

“What?” Lance blurted out, completely confused.

“I was the original agent that was on the case,” Krolia explained. “Back when there were less strict laws. I ran this operation with Kolivan. I’ve kept tabs on Daizabaal ever since. Seems like I was doing a better job on my own.”

More protests. Were these people seriously grown adults? Well, Lance supposed he was an adult too, but he was young. These guys were not. He groaned as the arguing started again.

Pidge looked utterly star-struck, and Lance couldn’t really blame her. Krolia was an Omega that had apparently worked for the FBI until the Omega Laws came into effect after the epidemic, and she wasn’t taking shit from anyone. It didn’t matter how many Alphas were around her, she was clearly a woman on a mission. Lance could already see where Keith got his attitude from, and it was kind of amazing.

He could probably appreciate it more if he wasn’t sickeningly worried about Keith, and also a bit terrified of the woman before him.

At the same time though, the growling and chaos was really giving him a headache.

 “Why can’t everyone just shut up and work on finding Keith?” Almost instantly, the shouting stopped, and everyone looked around at him. He blinked with surprise, and then his entire body jerked in shock when he realized that he had said that out loud. Good god. He already had everything going against him when it came to first impressions, and now he was basically digging his grave.

Krolia stared at him with those intense purple eyes like she was digging right through to his soul. Keith had sent her a picture of them together earlier, so she had to know _exactly_ who he was.

Kolivan actually looked relieved when she made her way over to him, though all of his friends tensed up. God, she was very tall and intimidating.

She stopped in front of him, eyeing him up and down with those judgemental eyes. The wrinkles on her forehead smoothed as she stopped scowling and said, “You’re Lance. I’m Keith’s mother, Krolia.” She didn’t wait for him to even attempt to come up with a reply to that. “What he acting strange the last you saw him?”

A bit taken back by her bluntness, it took him a moment to respond. “Uh, I. No. I mean, he was worried and all, a bit awkward around my friends, but nothing I hadn’t seen yet? And I was in talking to Kolivan when he…yeah…”

Guilt rushed through him, and his shoulders slumped, head bowing slightly. If he had only been there, this wouldn’t have happened. “I know it was my fault. I’m so, so sorry. I should have stayed with him.”

“You couldn’t have known this would happen, Lance,” Shiro spoke up, surprising him. He thought the Beta would have been eager to paint him as the bad guy to try and convince his brother to stay home (Keith admitted that Shiro didn’t take it too well earlier). Instead, he just looked tired. “This was supposed to be a safe house.”

“Yes, this department has _really_ gotten lax since I retired,” Krolia noted, crossing her arms in front of her. “Perhaps I’ll tell you the story, but the short version is that this mess is bigger than you can imagine, more long-running than you know.” She sighed, shoulders slumping slightly. “I never thought…”

“I’m sorry,” Lance choked out again. He was going to cry.

“We saw him last,” Pidge spoke up, face filled with regret. “He was just going downstairs to get his phone. He said he’d be right back. Maybe I should have gone with him. I was right there.”

“No.” They all looked up with surprise, a bit taken back by the softer expression on her face. “Nothing you said would have convinced my son not to do what he thought was right.” She made a face. “I really wanted to hate you.”

“You…don’t?” Shiro’s phone rang, but Lance paid it no mind.

“I’m a _very_ good judge of character,” Krolia answered simply.

“Keith?” All heads snapped towards Shiro as he fumbled with his phone before answering it. “Keith! I— _Acxa_? What—slow down. What’s wrong? What?” Shiro’s face went pale and he looked at everyone else. “Track Keith’s phone, now. Acxa’s hysterical.”

“His sister,” Lance breathed out. Of course, that was a factor they hadn’t considered at all. Keith’s sister. Just because she has done something horrible, didn’t mean that Keith was going to let something horrible happen to her. He thought back to her explanation of how Keith had been the protective one when they were younger, the one that everyone thought would be the Alpha.

Of course he went to save her if she was in danger. Of course Lotor would have thought of that.

“Got the address.” Pidge quickly listed it off to the agents, having found it before Regris could. That was really sad, when he thought about it.

Lance stood, but Kolivan fixed him with a stern look. “You’re not coming.”

“Keith could be hurt,” Lance said harshly. “You know that injured Omegas react better to their own mate than anyone else.”

“That is true, and if we recover Mr. Kogane, you will be the first one escorted to see him for that reason. You are a civilian though, and as such, you will stay in this house.” He narrowed his eyes as he looked towards Krolia as well. “You are here for your protection, not to help with an investigation.”

“My _daughter_ is definitely there,” Krolia snapped at him. “I need to make sure she’s okay.”

Before Kolivan could say anything, Shiro loudly asked, “Acxa, your mother’s here. Do you want her to come with the agents to where you are?” He paused to listen before looking at them. “She wants you there.”

Kolivan did not look impressed, but nodded his head, heading out the door with the tall woman trailing after him.

Lance was kind of jealous, and definitely angry. If Keith was hurt…well…his mother being there would be a good thing, but Lance needed to be there too.

“Acxa, it’s okay, help is on the way. They already left. I—they took him?” Shiro looked more than a bit alarmed. Lance felt his entire body go rigid, because he _knew_ who they were talking about. “I—what? She—okay. Okay. One second, I’m going to put you on speaker. Repeat that. Try to keep calm. Keep talking. Help’s on the way.”

He put it on the speaker phone.

“Lotor sent texts to Keith. Pictures of me and Ezor tied up,” she choked out, letting out a gurgling cough that sounded really bad. “He told him to come alone or he’d kill us. Keith _knew_ it was a trap but he came anyway. I—these girls saw it outside. Saw what they put Keith in. She got her friend to come in and help us, but I think she’s trying to follow him.”

Her words started to slur, and they could hear someone else talking in the background, another voice.

“I am sorry,” a soft, feminine voice said. “She passed out.”

“Who are we speaking to snow?” Allura asked in a calm tone.

“My name is Shay,” she replied almost shyly. “We saw what happened. My friend, Romelle, actually left after your friend and I stayed to untie these two. I…they seem very hurt though.”

Hunk started at the name, staring at the phone with wide, surprised eyes. Matt glanced around at him and whispered, “What’s wrong?”

“I know her,” he breathed out. “I recognize her voice and name. Shay’s the Omega I saved last night. Night before. Whatever.”

Pidge’s mouth fell open, and Lance couldn’t help but stare with wide eyes. Holy shit, what were the odds of that?

“Help is on the way,” Shiro assured her the same way he had Acxa. “Shay, did you get any license plate numbers or anything like that?”

“I took a picture on my phone.”

“We can use that,” Allura said quickly. “Make sure to show the police when they get there. It might help us find him.”

“Of course. The police are here! I need to go talk to them,” Shay said.

“Alright. Thank you so much for taking care of my sister,” Shiro answered, even if he clearly didn’t want her to hang up. When the line went dead, his entire body slumped. Allura placed a hand on his shoulder.

“What do you mean Shay was the Omega you saved last night?” Pidge asked loudly, drawing everyone’s attention to her.

“Okay, well you guys know the story,” Hunk said with a nod, but glanced towards Shiro and Allura. “I made sure Matt and Pidge were okay, and I went back to look for Lance and Keith. They were gone, so I kept looking for them. Then I saw these guys trying to grab this Omega woman. So I helped her as best as I could, and because I helped her, her family wanted to thank me. Apparently other Omegas in their gang had gone missing. Yeah, a gang. So end of story I ended up becoming friends with them?”

“So they owe you one,” Allura said, taking a few minutes to process that. “We could use that.”

“Allura…”

“ _You_ are a private detective,” Allura said to her mate. “I happen to have an extra dollar or two hanging around. These two,” she pointed at Pidge and Matt, “are better hackers than the FBI has.” She nodded at Hunk. “He’s got muscle, and a local gang owes him a favour.” She looked towards Lance. “You’re just as motivated as anyone else here to get Keith back and that’s a good thing.” She then turned her attention back to Shiro. “You’re telling me we’re _not_ going to try to find him on our own? Besides, if this Shay girl is in a gang, I’m sure she’d be more open to us than the police.”

“It could get in the way of any FBI investigation,” Shiro replied sternly. “We don’t want to interfere with anything that could invalidate their evidence and let Lotor go free.”

“Lotor has him,” Lance stressed. “It’s not an if or anything. He _took_ him. We _have_ to get him back. It’s not screwing with evidence if we’re just trying to find him, right?” He was so frustrated that Keith left, but he also understood. He would have done the same for his siblings without question. It didn’t mean that he had to like it. “Ugh! If he knew it was a trap, why wouldn’t he tell us secretly or something?”

“What if he wanted to be taken.”

Everyone looked at Pidge, who was staring at her computer screen with pinched expression.

“What?” Lance asked, eyes going wide.

“What if he _wanted_ to be taken?” she looked up at them. “Look, the FBI has been tracking this thing for _years_. If what Keith’s mom said is true, it’s been since _before_ he was born. Even before the pandemic, Omegas couldn’t work or go to school or anything once they became pregnant and for the first few years of their pup’s lives. So she would have left the FBI at least when she was going to have Keith and his sister, right? That’s over 20 years ago. They haven’t stopped this. It’s becoming worse as the population deceases.”

“Where are you going with this?”

“Imagine, you saw the opportunity to potentially _lead_ the FBI to the source of the issue? So you let yourself be taken. You bring a second phone with you, knowing people are tracking your phones, that way when yours gets left behind, there’s a good chance that you won’t get searched again because you’re an Omega. You don’t think logically like that because all you think about is babies and making them.” Her hands curled into fists. “You _know_ you’re probably going to end up getting hurt in more ways than one, but you might be able to save others in the process. Do you walk into the trap on purpose?”

They were all silent, taking in her words, even as her voice started to shake.

“Yes,” Allura said after a moment, meeting Pidge’s eyes. “I absolutely would. I know how Lotor works. Even then, knowing what he’d do to me, I’d still do it.”

“So would I,” Pidge agreed.

Shiro groaned. “That is _absolutely_ the way Keith would think.”

Lance felt something well up inside of him. This was four Omegas now, three women and a man, that he knew that would _not_ back down from a challenge, that would not let the fact that they were Omegas get in the way of what they wanted to do.

It was almost as if they were humans that could function on their own and weren’t defined by their dynamic, he thought sarcastically.

“What’s Lotor going to do to him?” Lance found himself asking. He didn’t really _want_ to think about it, but he got the impression that Allura might be able to guess better than anyone else. He didn’t want to picture it, didn’t want to think about anyone being hurt, but he also wanted to be prepared to help in the aftermath if they _couldn’t_ save him in time.

The heavy silence that hung over the room was almost deafening. Allura stared at him oddly for a moment, but then nodded her head. “Lotor doesn’t take slights well, and on a person level he’s…into very questionable things.” She played with the hem of her shirt. “Physical, mental, emotional, and sexual assault. It really depends with him. Keith’s strong willed and has, in his view, slighted him over and over again.” She wrapped her arms around her flat stomach. “He’ll try to break him in every way he can. Make him into what Lotor sees as a proper Omega. Once he has no use for him, he’ll toss him aside.”

Lance closed his eyes, fingers curling into fists.

“I have the address the FBI went to,” Pidge said suddenly. “Hunk, if you can get this Shay girl to talk to us, maybe I can even figure out a way to track that friend of hers that supposedly trailing Keith. At the very least, they might have more muscle that could help us, right? Especially if some of their own have gone missing.”

“That’s an idea,” Matt agreed. “We’d need proper transportation for that though.”

“There are a few options around here,” Allura said, looking out the window at the black SUV that was still there. “I like that one best.”

“The FBI won’t be happy,” Shiro muttered, looking at her almost tiredly.

“I can handle them here. Coordinate with you from here, send them your way if need be. Pidge, perhaps you should stay as well to work on the computers.”

“Actually, no,” Matt spoke up reluctantly before his sister could protest. He looked so, so reluctant about this, but still said, “Look, if something does get bad like what you’re saying, the _only_ people Keith might feel okay around are Lance or other Omegas, and if there are others there—”

Matt’s thought was immediately cut off as Pidge’s computer beeped and she let out a small sound of surprise, her eyes going wide. “Oh my god! Lance’s phone just turned on!”

“Really?” Lance surged forward to look at the screen. “Is this real time?”

“Yeah, same idea as the find your phone app, but more advanced.” She frowned. “How’d they get so far away so fast?”

“Maybe there was a delay in Acxa calling us?” Hunk suggested.

“Doesn’t matter,” Lance interjected. “We need to go after him!” His heart was pounding as he stared at the dot on the screen. He would hotwire a car himself and go after Keith if need be.

“Hunk, Matt, Allura,” Shiro said slowly. “Do you think you could get a hold of this gang? See what they know. See if they can help us.”

The three looked at one another before Allura said, “Yes. What about…you’re going after Keith.”

“We need someone to be able to track him,” he said, motioning towards Pidge. “And I doubt I could keep Lance here. What do you guys think?”

Lance looked around the room. They barely knew Shiro and Allura, and vice versa, but there was something about the two of them that he just instinctively trusted. Both of them had been given leadership qualities in spades apparently.

“This could be very dangerous,” Shiro clarified, looking from one face to the next. “You can say no. I don’t blame you. I’m going to help my brother though, and I’d like any help that I can get.”

Pidge nodded her head. “I’m going. If I can help in any way, I’m going to. Screw these people who think I’m weak.” She looked towards Matt. “I’ll be fine.”

“I know you will,” he said with a sigh. “Just be a bit _extra_ careful, okay?” He looked towards Allura and Hunk. “I guess we’re going to talk to Hunk’s girlfriend, huh?” Hunk spluttered, his face turning red.

“Try to stop me,” Lance blurted out, ignoring his friend’s reaction. Shiro stared at him for a moment before nodding his head.

Maybe they should have left this to the agents, he couldn’t shake the urge to go and get his mate himself.

Lance took a deep breath as they planned out exactly what they were going to do and how. He just hoped that Keith would be okay until someone got to him.

….

When Keith woke up, it was to a dry throat, nausea, and a headache. He was in a small, dark, cramped spot that smelled off gasoline and rubber.

He fought through the headache and realized that he was in the trunk of a car. Going over a bump proved this to him.

He took a few deep breaths and realized that there was a scarf tied around his mouth that smelled disgustingly like Lotor, and both his arms and legs were tied behind him.

“Calm down,” Keith muttered to himself through the gag. “Calm down and assess the situation. You can do this.” It was what Shiro had drilled into him for _if_ he ever got into this situation.

He remembered the text message. He remembered sneaking out of the house. He remembered finding Acxa. He remembered being assaulted and running out the door. He remembered leaving his phone with Acxa and telling her about Shiro and the FBI. Hopefully she’d understand.

Nausea welled up in him, probably from whatever drug had been used to almost instantaneously knock him out. The scent on the gag was probably to keep him docile when he woke up, but it was failing in that. If anything, it was getting him angrier.

He squirmed a bit, and a smirk appeared on his lips under the scarf.

If there was one good thing about being an Omega, it was the fact that _everyone_ underestimated him. Lotor might have thought that he was ahead of everyone else, but he clearly didn’t think that Keith _himself_ was a threat.

Keith tried to be as quiet as he could as he shifted around, glad that he was fairly flexible. He managed to press his bound hands against his boot, fingers snagging the folded knife that was kept there. He also took out Lance’s phone, managing to shift around to turn it on. It took a few minutes of careful shifting, but that was alright. He stared at the screen in relief, hoping that Pidge, Matt, or the FBI would be looking for the phones.

He was about to twist around to grab his knife in order to cut the ropes around his body, but paused.

Keith admittedly wasn’t much of a planner. He tended to go with his gut, to look at the situations and just go with them, adapting to the changes that came his way.

He had walked into this fully knowing that it was likely to be a trap. That it was very likely that he’d end up in the same place as some of the other Omegas that had been taken. If he cut the ropes off now and jumped out of the car, he’d probably just hurt himself and get thrown back in. It _felt_ like they were going too fast for him to safely jump, plus he could feel his legs cramping and the drugs were threatening to drag him back into unconsciousness.

Of course, he could turn on Lance’s phone and leave it hidden in the car somewhere. Stretch out his legs and get ready to run anyway. Depending on where they were though, that could end up badly for him, and there was always the chance that they wouldn’t go to wherever it was that they were heading.

They were driving too steadily for it to be in the city. He didn’t have anything with him outside of his knife that could help him survive in the wilderness too, especially if it was the desert. He left that kit at home, packed in case he ever needed to take off to get away.

He could slip the phone back into his boot and leave his knife there, keeping himself bound for now. Let them take him where they wanted to go. That way even _if_ they took him somewhere else and there were no other Omegas there, he’d still have the phone on him to track, and the knife on him to fight.

Keith closed his eyes and relaxed a bit to try and help his cramping muscles. His eyes opened again, looking at Lance’s phone. It still kind of smelled like him, as did the shirt that he was wearing, and that was a bit comforting. He hoped that Lance would forgive him for what he had done.

He thought about Acxa, and he wasn’t a religious person at all, but he still prayed that she would be okay. That someone had found her. Otherwise that part would be for nothing.

A part of Keith wanted to use the phone to call someone, but he didn’t know Lance’s password, though any phone could call 9-1-1 even if it was out of a service area. Everyone else was already with the FBI though and hopefully tracking the phone, so there really wasn’t anything he could contribute, and someone might hear him talking.

He moved around, sliding the phone back into his boot. Blinking again as a wave of nausea rushed over him. God, Lotor’s scent was utterly repulsive. He knew scents could be subjective and smell slightly different to people, but he couldn’t imagine anyone finding Lotor’s scent appealing. Then again, Allura had liked him once, hadn’t she?

He thought of Allura, how it could have been her in this position. She could have vanished years ago, and no one would have been able to do anything about it. He thought of all the other Omegas that _had_ gone missing. Of the one that Hunk had saved.

Closing his eyes again, Keith forced himself to relax as much as he could. He was really, really hoping that the others would be able to find him sooner rather than later, and if not…well, if not, he prayed that Lance would be able to look at him again. Would be able to forgive him. Not just for running off, but for what Lotor would do to him if he got the chance.

Keith’s breath hitched and his eyes burned with unshed tears. It would be okay, he told himself. At the very least, Lotor would absolutely be charged to kidnapping him, and in the worse-case scenario, be charged for ra—a terrified whine _almost_ escaped Keith’s lips, but the gag managed to stop it.

One good thing about being an Omega mated to an Alpha was that the Alphas in charge didn’t like when someone _stole_ them and hurt them, because it sent a message that it was open season, and the ones in charge didn’t want anyone touching _their_ property.

It was different for unmated Omegas, who were often blamed for what they went through. Called teases and flirts. He would know.

Keith was going to be sick, but he’d probably just choke on it, so he managed to hold it down. He took several deep breaths through his nose, grimacing at Lotor’s stench.

If he could help even just one other person, he told himself over and over again, then it would be worth it. He could take anything the arrogant Alpha threw at him. He didn’t want to go through this again, but if it meant saving others, he would.

Keith was once again aware of the knife pressed against his leg in his boot, the phone in the other. As long as the phone got into wherever they were going, he could take whatever it was that came at him. If Lotor thought that he was going to give in easily (or at all, for that matter), he was sorely mistaken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to clarify once again that while I may talk about to allude to some things happening (like it says in the tags) I am not going to write anything in detail. Firmly zero smut of any form. 
> 
> And no, I don't count kissing or just mentioning that people are naked as that (like in chapter one). I mean I'm not writing any kind of sex scenes. And if there's something I think MAY bother some people, I'll put a warning at the beginning of the chapter so you can skip it (there are two very different scenes that comes to mind right now that I'm working on). It's M for a reason. 
> 
> ALSO, people guessing appearances: you get Shay, hints of future Romelle, and Krolia so far!
> 
> Happy times, right? Just think, this time next week, we'll all be dead due to S7. 
> 
> Once again, thank you for all the fantastic comments! You're all amazing!


	13. Fight or Flight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s a warning, the entire scene with Keith and Lotor is a /bit/ disturbing. There’s no sexual assault shown, but there’s some forced drug use (of sorts), some blood. Starts with ‘When Keith woke up this time’ and goes through the entire scene until the divider for the next section, starting with ‘As it turned out, Shiro was a literal blessing.’

It was insane to think that just the morning before, he had awoken with the worst hangover ever, not remembering most of his night, and with a new mate beside him. Everything had spiralled completely out of control since then.

Lance thought that he managed to keep himself busy from day to day, but this was on a whole other level. People weren’t kidding when they said one minute could change everything, because it certainly had.

Now he was in the passenger seat of a _technically_ stolen SUV that belonged to someone in the FBI, along with his new brother-in-law, and one of his best friends, on a mission to save his mate from a sadistic Alpha that was stealing and selling Omegas.

Lance couldn’t help but think back to the pictures that he had seen. Morbid curiosity got the best of him, and he pulled up what Matt and Pidge had found. The pictures they were using to sell the Omegas were grotesque, and when looking into their eyes, it was obvious that they were either in heat and completely dazed, or terrified.

He supposed that to the sick people involved in this, it was probably what looked attractive. Those people could go choke.

His hands curled into fists, gripping his jeans. He couldn’t picture that happening to Keith. He couldn’t. He’d probably have to get Shiro to pull over so he could throw up, and he had a pretty strong stomach.

God, he shouldn’t have looked.

Pidge hummed from the back seat, her computer and a few other things spread out. She made a soft sound and said, “Looks like the phone stopped.” She reached forward, handing Lance a GPS system. “Follow those directions.”

“At least we know where they are,” Shiro said, but the way his body tensed said so much more. If he was an Alpha, he probably would have reeked from aggression. Lance knew he probably stank something horrible to them.

“Hear from Hunk yet?” Lance managed to force out, turning around to face her, not wanting to think about the bad things that could come from the fact that his phone had stopped moving, meaning Keith had stopped moving.

“Not yet, but I’m sure they’ll be fine.”  She frowned. “There’s no street-view image of this place, but from what I can tell, it’s a fancy, privately owned mansion. It’s actually huge. There are even trees around it. Give me a few minutes to see if I can pull up info on what else I can find.” She grabbed her headphones, snapping them over her ears to focus.

If they just got to where they were going, surely nothing bad had happened to Keith yet. Well, no, it was still possible that something happened, but not long term or anything.

God, Lance’s thoughts were confusing himself. He kind of wished that he had told his family about this whole situation. His Papá would have stormed in and everything would have been fine.

He pictured Keith, his mate. The man he had woken up to the day before without any memories. The man that _could_ have run but chose to confront the situation. The one that he had gotten to know and realized that he genuinely liked as an acquaintance and friend. The one he realized that he just might be able to love.

Lance didn’t want to see that determination and fire die, and he knew that was what Lotor was going to try to break down and get rid of.

Why had he taken so long with Kolivan? Sure, he was answering questions, but then he had been simply asking questions of his own, spouting out random theorize, and generally just annoying the agent. He should have got up and went to the kitchen. He might have been able to catch Keith. They might have been able to make a plan together.

“Lance.”

He jumped slightly. “I’m sorry! I should have been there with him!” He blinked rapidly, trying to keep the tears that threatened to fall at bay.

“No, this isn’t your fault, I—“ Shiro sighed and shook his head. “I knew something was suspicious about coming to Vegas for Lotor’s birthday. I knew he was stalking Keith. We couldn’t really say no. he didn’t even want _me_ here, but Keith refused Acxa’s invitation unless I was coming too.” He frowned. “Lotor probably would have been all too happy to bite him in front of me. I should have known. One little slip…”

Lance looked up, staring at the forlorn man. “Keith doesn’t blame you.” He thought back to the day before, thinking about every time Shiro came up in conversation before. “Actually, all he did was praise you.”

Shiro actually chuckled a bit at that and shook his head again. He smiled faded. “What happens after this? When we get him back?”

Fiddling with his jacket, Lance shrugged. “We talked about it, and he said he wanted to come back with me, but if he changes his mind, that’s okay.”

“ _Do_ you want him to go with you? You barely know him.”

“Yeah.” He couldn’t help but smiled as he looked at Shiro. “I _know_ I barely know him, but I want to get to know him.”

Shiro slowly nodded his head. They were silent for a moment, and then, “Allura looked up stuff about you and your family. You don’t seem like a bad bunch.”

Lance’s mouth fell open in shock. “She—wow.” Wait, of course, they had looked into him. Shiro was a private detective, and according to Keith, Allura’s family was rolling in cash. They probably had all kinds of resources to look him up. If his friends have done it, why wouldn’t they? “Um. Yeah. I guess that’s fair. Pidge looked up Keith too. Thanks, I guess?”

They were silent again, Shiro glancing quickly at the GPS. “What happens if Lotor does…take advantage of him?” His fingers curled around the steering wheel, the metal one looking like it was actually going to bend it.

“What do you mean?” Lance’s voice came out sharp. He knew exactly what Shiro meant, but he still wanted to know what he meant. “Lotor hasn’t had him that long. They _just_ stopped. We’ll get him back before anything really bad happens.”

“I hope that’s true,” Shiro said with a nod. “But just in case something does happen…a lot of Alphas would be …put off after that. And what you have is brand new.”

Anger erupted from Lance. He knew that Shiro was only trying to think of his brother, but he couldn’t help but feel pissed off. “What? You think I’d blame _him_ and dump him if Lotor raped him? I thought you looked me up? I would _never_ do that. I’d do what Keith wanted. I…I have a second room in my apartment. My brother was there until a few months ago. He could have his own space, but if he needed me I’d be there. I…I’d just want him to be okay. Medicine if he needed it. Anything.”

Pidge made a startled sound from the back seat, and Lance instantly felt guilty. It was sometimes easy to forget that she was an Omega too, and his scent was probably freaking her out.

“Sorry,” he muttered to her.

Shiro didn’t say anything for a moment. “I suppose I can’t really ask for more than that. My brother sometimes struggles with what to say to people. He used to kind of…explode with anger. We’ve worked on it over the years.”

Lance looked away, staring out the window. “I’m not taking him from you, you know? I’m not.”

“You are,” he replied almost instantly, like he had been expecting that. “But it doesn’t have to be in a bad way.”

Nodding his head again, Lance squirmed on the seat as silence settled over them again.

“Matt texted me,” Pidge said suddenly. “They finally got to talk to Shay, but he’s not saying much about it. Apparently her friend, Romelle, had an Omega brother go missing. So when she saw them taking Keith, she went after that.” She paused and snickered, “He also says that Shay says Hunk saving them came them the ‘inspiration’ to help themselves. I bet he’s embarrassed about that. Sounds like they’d be up to help us though, especially if it means maybe finding some of their people too.”

“That’s good,” Shiro said, staying focused. “Do they know where to go?”

“Yeah, I sent Matt the info. I sent it to Regris too. You know, cause they’re the FBI and should know.” She narrowed her eyes and wet her lips. “This place is apparently owned by a Honerva Galdara. Does that name mean anything to you, Shiro? I can’t find her name anywhere.”

“Honerva?” Lance repeated.

“That’s Lotor’s mother.” Shiro frowed, eyes furrowing. “She’s an Omega, and is largely kept out of the press.”

“An Omega can’t own a house.”

“They can if an Alpha gifts it to them,” Lance pointed out. “Maybe Lotor put it under her name.”

“I dunno, this place has been owned by her for a _long_ time. Like, before Lotor was born long.” Pidge frowned. “What about her husband, Zarkon? I keep finding stuff about how he went missing. And apparently Matt did some digging too. He’s been looking at missing person reports and it seems like a lot of people go missing in a city, then it clams down, then happens in another one, then calms down.”

“That’d explain why the FBI was already set up here,” Shiro noted. “They must have been onto this for a while, and you guys just happened to blow the whole thing over to them. As for Zarkon, I’m not sure that’s related, but I do know that Lotor has no love lost for his father, though he certainly pretends to care around the press and his mother. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he was responsible for Zarkon vanishing.”

“Hey, Pidge,” Lance spoke up and looked over his shoulder. “Can you track that Romelle’s girl? If she’s following them, it might help? Just in case my phone goes offline or something.”

She snapped her fingers. “That’s actually a really good idea.” She grabbed her phone to no doubt text her brother.

Lance’s eyes locked onto the screen of the GPS. He sighed, wishing that the distance to Keith was exactly what was shown on the screen. It was going to take them a while to get there though.

“Hold on,” he muttered, not caring if anyone heard him. “We’re coming. Just hold on.”

…

When Keith woke up this time, it wasn’t to a dark trunk that smelled of gasoline and tires. Instead, it was to a bright room, leaning against fluffy pillows on a plush bed. For a wild moment, he almost thought that he was back at the Olkarion, that he was just now waking up with Lance at his side.

Then he realized that this place didn’t look like the Olkarion. It was nice, but almost old and outdated in its design. His hands moved up to rub his eye, causing him to focus on the soft gauze that was wrapped around his arching wrists.

He shifted to look around the room, but stopped when he processed a few things at the same time. He was only in his jeans. His shirt, gloves, boots, and socks were all gone. The room he was in was huge. He was alone, and there was something around his neck. Something very heavy and uncomfortable.

Not only that, but this entire room reeked of Lotor, and it made him feel queasy.

Keith quickly reached up, fingers brushing against a thick metal that reminded him of the collar he wore until Lance marked him. It was much heavier though.

Something in his mind was screaming at him, something he needed to pay attention to. He looked back at his feet, and it hit him hard.

Keith stumbled out of the bed and looked around, alarm rising up in him when he saw his boots, but they were tossed aside, phone and knife gone. His shirt was there with the boots, but instead of focusing on that, he started looking around the room for something else that he could use as a weapon, his eyes falling onto the mirror on top of a dresser.

He moved towards it, freezing as he looked at the heavy, metal collar around his neck. He couldn’t see where the clasp was to take it off, and turning slightly, he saw that there were several little vials of liquid in the back, sealed tight with no air bubbles to speak of.

Panic started to well up in him. He had no idea what this was, where he was, or where Lotor was for that matter. He had no weapons, though he supposed he could still fight.

Lost in his terrified thoughts, Keith didn’t notice the new presence in the room until he saw a bit of movement out of the corner of his eye. He jerked away as the Alpha placed his hands on his shoulders, but Lotor firmly held him in place.

Keith wasn’t weak by any means. He was actually pretty proud of his strength, having really worked on it since it was nineteen. The thing was, Lotor was exceptionally tall and strong, bigger than Keith in every way, and could easily hold onto him.

His fingers ran across Keith’s shoulder, sliding across the spot where the heavy collar met his skin. Keith tried to repress a shudder of disgusting, not wanting him to interpret it as arousal or anything else.

He didn’t want to be here. This was a mistake. It was pretty much for nothing if Lotor destroyed Lance’s phone and no one had been tracking him (hopefully they had been).

“Amazing, isn’t it?” Lotor’s silky voice said, far too close to his ear for comfort.

Nope. He was _not_ doing that. He tried to move away again.

“Stop,” Lotor commanded in his stern, Alpha voice.

Keith had ignored that voice many times before. In fact, it was something of a pride of his that he could, for the most part, overcome an Alpha’s command no matter what. He had gotten Acxa to help him with it over and over again, not wanting to be caught in a situation like this again. Now that he was mated to Lance, he also had a slight bit more of a natural immunity to it.

So when his entire body stopped moving, instantly giving in and listening, panic erupted through him.

The collar did nothing to hide his scent, so Lotor easily caught into this, chuckling as if almost charmed by Keith’s reaction.

The Alpha once again grabbed his shoulders, pulling him back so that his back was pressed against the Alpha’s chest. He ran his hands up and down his arms in almost a soothing manner that made his skin crawl. “There’s a good Omega. Stay right there and listen. Were you aware of how steadily declining the population is? About how it’s an actual crisis? How our species could go extinct?” Keith looked at him in the mirror. “No, I thought not.”

What the fuck? What was he talking about? What did that have to do with what was happening? Of course Keith knew about the Omega Flu that had killed or left a large portion of the population, mostly Omegas, infertile. It happened a few years before he was born, and the Omega Laws were a response to the dwindling population. He had gone to high school, after all.

Apparently Lotor thought he was that stupid, and decided to tell him the story. “You do know that a few years before you were born, a pandemic, a flu, spread rapidly over the world. Omegas and pups, in your poor delicate states, were the ones hit hardest, and the loss was devastating. Many that survived with left unable to fulfill their reason for living. Laws were put into place to help stabilize the population.”

“It is stabilizing,” he shot back. That was something that they had learned too. They had been told over and over again that the Omega Laws were working. That they were a good thing.

Yeah, in retrospect, maybe that was just propaganda.

Lotor leaned in very close so that he was practically whispering in his ear, “That’s a lie. It’s getting worse, and those laws don’t help enough. It’s why I’m working so hard to save us all. And all you Omegas seem to think that you have the right to allow our species to die by denying your very biological existence. You were made to spread your legs and be bred, and to be bred often. It’s not like Betas, who struggle through pregnancy, and often need a long time to recuperate, if they can at all.”

Keith wanted to jerk away, as Lotor slid his hand onto his stomach, but whatever was happening kept him frozen to the spot. “You think you’re the same as an Alpha, or even a Beta. But you are not. You exist for one reason, and one alone. That Alpha you _let_ claim you is weak and is a part of the problem. He could never handle someone like you. I can though.”

Finally, the Omega found it within himself to break through whatever was holding him there. He smacked Lotor’s arm away from him and tried to twist away, yelping when he was forced forward, head nearly colliding with the mirror. Lotor twisted him uncomfortable so he could see the vials of liquid attached to the collar.

“This is my mother’s design, and it was save us all. Let me explain.” He pointed at an empty vial. “This one here, I’ve already used on you while you were resting. It makes an Omega act as they should to all Alphas, mated or not. You’re no longer bound to that filthy, lesser Alpha with this. Well, as close as you can get to it. If I could remove his filthy bite from your skin, I would. This will have to do for now. Everything you’d need him for, can come from me. Isn’t it magnificent?”

Alarm shot through him. That would explain his reaction to Lotor. Oh god, if these things got into the wrong hands, any Alpha could take any Omega off the street and make them listen, claiming that it wasn’t rape at all.

Lotor’s finger went over a red vial. “This one here will prompt your heat, no matter how far away it naturally is. Imagine.” He leaned in close, nose running against Keith’s skin. “You would no longer have to suffer for three months, waiting for your heat to come. It could come as soon as you’ve healed from birth, or if one passes without conception. You no longer have to suffer without the pups you crave to have.” He pressed something, and Keith jerked at the sharp prick he felt in his scent gland, a whimper escaping him. He normally wouldn’t make sounds like that, he’d normally lash out, but whatever drugs had been pumped into him was making him feel oddly docile. He kind of wanted to cry. “It’ll kick in soon. About 15 minutes or so. Probably less, since you were almost there anyway.” Lotor inhaled his scent.

“Of course, we had to make a separate concoction for ovulation, speeding it up, prompting multiples. All our tests allow us to guarantee conception with a single knot. Imagine? You’d no longer have to stress through your heat, knowing that your pup is on the way after the first knot. Our testers were very thrilled to be able to conceive after failing to do so. Often times ending up with multiples.”

Alarm shot through him. Keith _knew_ where this was going. He struggled, fighting against the urge to stop like the Alpha commanded. “Let go of me!”

Lotor held him closer still, his hand once again slinking down to touch his stomach. “Of course, you are a multiple, so your odds of that were much higher as it is. Not to mention you were most likely already ovulating.”

Keith slammed his foot down into Lotor’s, causing the Alpha to yelp with surprise and let him go. He immediately tried to bolt, but was grabbed again, gasping as he was slammed into the wall, head colliding with it, black dots dancing in front of his eyes.

“None of that,” Lotor scolded like he was talking to a small child. “You no longer have to pretend to be angry to keep unworthy Alphas away. I’ll make sure you have at least one pup in you before the day is done. You don’t have to suffer anymore. You can be happy.”

“No!” Keith tried to kick again, but Lotor was prepared this time. That didn’t mean he was going to stop struggling. “You’re not fucking _touching_ me.” He managed to squirm out of Lotor’s grip, launching himself to the other side of the room, heart pounding as his fight or flight instincts kicked in.

Already, he could feel the telltale warmth and pull in his abdomen of his heat starting. If he wanted to get out of here, he had to do it soon before he became weaker. Hopefully someone had tracked his phone here.

He thought that he could live with this again. That he could make this sacrifice to potentially help others. But he didn’t think he could do it. Not again.

Instead of getting distressed, he glared at Lotor fiercely. “I’m not playing hard to get or pretending to be angry. You’re a fucking monster that takes people and ruins their lives.” He snarled as Lotor drew nearer. “If Lance asked for a pup, I’d give it to him. You? I’ll kill myself and any parasite you put in me!”

“No, don’t you think you would,” the Alpha chided him. “An Omega could never hurt their own themselves when they have a pup. It’s unnatural.”

Keith’s eyes narrowed. “Then I guess I’m a freak for not caring about a few cells inside of me.” He _knew_ he’d do it without hesitation. Either force a miscarriage, or if that wasn’t possible, just go all the way without trying to save himself. It wasn’t just a theory, it was a fact.

Lotor stared at him with narrowed eyes. “I wouldn’t allow you to do something you’d regret so much. I understand, you grew up not knowing what it is you actually wanted to needed, and that lesser Alpha will only make it worse. I’ll help you, even if it means keeping you tied down for your own safety.” He brushed Keith’s hair out of his eyes. “Don’t worry.”

Lurching forward, Keith slammed his forehead into Lotor’s nose. He grimaced from the pain, but it was enough to make the Alpha curse and jerk away.

He scrambled for the door, but Lotor grabbed him by the collar, causing him to gag. He was tugged back again, and a very familiar knife was pressed to his face. “You bitch. Where do you plan on going? I have people all over this mansion, and since you’ve already sullied yourself once, who am I to stop them from having fun with you before giving you back?” Lotor hummed, pressing the knife a little below Keith’s eye. “I wonder, would that Alpha want you back then? Perhaps we can see.”

Lotor leaned in close, pressing his lips right against Keith’s ear, but he didn’t move, feeling his own knife pressing into his skin. “I have his phone here, I recognize his foul face on the screen. Perhaps we could call him, get him to come here. I’m sure I could make you plead and beg enough for him to come alone. I would let him watch. Show him how he should be treating you. I’d keep him around long enough for him to see our first pups, and when you start carrying our second set, I’d make you watch as I slowly slit his throat.”

Keith couldn’t hide the tears that slowly slid down his cheeks. He could feel his burning his skin now, settling in his body, but he didn’t feel weak. In fact, the treat to his Alpha was positively alarming.

He jerked, crying out in pain as the knife ran down to his chin, leaving a trail of blood. He grabbed Lotor’s arm, fighting for the weapon and kicking him as hard as he could. He was _not_ going to let anyone hurt Lance or anyone else. It was his fault they were dragged into this, and he wasn’t going to let it ruin their lives anymore than he already had.

“You asshole!” Keith raged. “You psychopathic fuck! This gets you off, doesn’t it? Taking omegas and using them? Forcing them to have babies? Selling them to other people? You think you’re on some fucking holy quest to save the world or something?” He tried to punch the Alpha, but Lotor grabbed his arm and twisted it around painfully.

Lotor threw him down onto the bed, pain radiating from his bleeding cheek, staining the pillow red beneath him. Lotor leaned over him and hissed, “What do you take me for? My father? I saw to it that _that_ aspect of his business died with him. Such a classless, desperate thing to do. This invention is nothing but perfect. Only the best and volunteers. You—you’re just difficult and confused.”

Keith gasped when the other syringes in the collar plunged into his scent gland, trying to arch away from the pain but unable to, Lotor’s weight pressing down on his back. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lotor set the knife on the bedside table, along with the phone that he probably kept to taunt Keith.

Lance’s phone. Lance’s phone that was still in-tact and on. The phone that was probably being tracked at this point. Relief suddenly hit Keith hard. No matter what happened to him here, Lotor was going to get caught. At the very least he’d get slapped with kidnapping and assault charges.

As long as they got there, it didn’t matter what happened to him.

“Just kill me!” Keith snarled at him wildly. “Just fucking kill me.” That would be so much better at this point than having the Alpha rape him. “Why me? Why couldn’t you just get a normal mate? Are you that fucking repulsive?” Oh god, his movements were getting sluggish. What was in the last vial that Lotor hadn’t talked about?

“You know, you’re right.” Lotor said, leaning down close to him. “This struggle is quite ridiculous. You’ve even gone and sullied your beautiful face. You’ll be quite hideous with that scar. Perhaps I _will_ give you back to that Alpha. Sully you and give you back to him, knowing that my pups are in you, that any time you’d be with him, you’d think of me.” He sounded like he was enjoying that idea way too much.

“What did you do to me?” Keith gasped. He wasn’t sure if it was the panic, but it was getting awfully hard to breathe, and he couldn’t move anymore.

“It would have been so much better if you would just behave. There’s nothing quite like having an Omega thrash and scream beneath you. I suppose that’s not possible now.” Keith closed his eyes as he forced himself to breathe, feeling the Alpha fiddling with the belt on his jeans. “Look what you made me do. This last one, the blue one, is a muscle relaxant. You’ll lose nearly all control of your body.” Lotor leaned in close to him again, settling on top of him entirely. “Don’t worry though, you’ll be awake, and be able to feel everything.”

No, no this wasn’t panic that was hitting Keith right now. It should have been, but it wasn’t. Panic wouldn’t make him feel like his throat was closing like this. This felt exactly like the time he had tried suppressants and had to go to the hospital.

He could feel Lotor doing something, maybe trying to remove his pants, he didn’t know. What he did know was that he couldn’t breathe anymore.

For all his talk about killing himself if he had to deal with Lotor, Keith really didn’t want to die. As he closed his eyes, unconsciousness taking him, he knew that was exactly what was happening.

…

As it turned out, Shiro was a literal blessing. Well, the fact that he seemed to have an entire first-aid kit in his utility belt was a blessing. The painkiller and a ship of water actually did help Lance’s stress-induced headache.

Pidge was in the back, fiddling with some more things. Lance had no idea where she got everything – probably lifted some of it from the agents – but from what he understood, she was still tracking his phone, and she was also doing something with rather simple-looking radios. He wasn’t going to question it.

Looking down at the GPS, Lance couldn’t stop the feeling of nervous anxiety that hit his stomach. They were almost there. They were almost to Keith. Well, he supposed that they were almost to his phone, but he wanted to believe that his mate was there too.

“Shit!” Shiro slammed on the breaks, causing Lance to jerk as his seatbelt locked.

Pidge yelped in the backseat, holding onto the tech that was in her hands tightly. “What the _fuck,_ Shiro?”

Lance’s heart was beating a mile a minute as he looked up, eyes resting on the young woman that had run onto the road in front of them. She had long blond hair tugged back into two pigtails, and a determined expression on her face.

Anger rose up in him, and before he could stop himself, he yelled, “Get off of the road!” Holy shit, didn’t everyone realize that they were on a mission right now and didn’t have time to help hitchhikers? He assumed that’s what she was, since he couldn’t see acar anywhere.

Shiro rolled down his window and looked at her. “Are you okay?”

The woman got closer to them, and Lance decided that she had to be wearing contacts. Keith had indigo eyes, his mother purple, but not _this_ kind of purple. She eyed them and muttered, “Black and white hair, metal arm. Huh, I thought Shay was lying. You’re Shiro?”

Shiro blinked. “Yeah, what—you’re Romelle.”

Lance straightened up at that. Romelle was the name of the girl that had gone after the car that took Keith.

She nodded her head and motioned down the road. “You can’t keep going that way. It’s a single driveway. They’ll see you coming. I was waiting here for you.”

“How did _you_ know we were coming?” Pidge asked, popping up between Lance and Shiro to look at her suspiciously.

“Shay called me and told me what was happening.” She pointed to the woods behind her where there appeared to be a small service road. “This is a good place to hide cars, and I figured out how to get to the house from here on foot.”

“Alright.” Shiro nodded his head, and Romelle moved out of the way as he turned down the road, going into the trees so they wouldn’t be spotted.

“We’re trusting her?” Lance asked, narrowing his eyes. “I mean, she did see the attack and did nothing, right?”

“It’s not easy for people to interfere in things like that, even if they should,” Shiro replied, getting out of the car and looking at Romelle as she approached.

SHiro didn’t even get a chance to talk to her though. Lance bolted out of the car and looked at her with an intense stare. “Where’s Keith?”

“Lance!” Shiro snapped at him.

He blinked, and realized that he had probably used an incredibly aggressive voice, maybe even with a tiny bit of that Alpha compulsion in it. Oops.

Romelle just stared for a moment before a very tiny smile appeared on her face. “Ah, so _you’re_ Lance then?”

Taken back by that, he slowly nodded. “Uh, yeah? How…”

“Hunk talked a lot about you and Keith and wanted to go and find both of you, but his tattoo ended up taking longer than he expected. I’m sorry we kind of ditched him when the police showed up, but they don’t exactly take…kindly to my family.” She shook her head. “And Shay mentioned something about you being mates now. So I just assumed…”

“Oh. Yeah.”

Shiro had gone to help Pidge with a few of her things, hauling a bag over his shoulder, effortlessly looking like a badass. “Where’s the way to the house?”

“This way.” Romelle led them towards the woods, and Lance really hoped that she actually knew where she was going.

“God I hate the outdoors,” Pidge muttered as she stepped over a root that rose out of the ground. “Too many bugs, and I always get sunburns.”

“You go monster hunting for fun,” Lance pointed out to her. Or, well, she’d like to. She could only ever convince Matt to actually go with her every once and a while. He bet that Keith would go with her willingly. He seemed like the type that would thrive on adventure and danger.

God, this Omega was going to give Lance grey hair before he was 30.

“That’s different,” Pidge replied with a scowl.

“It’s really not,” Shiro said, surprising them both. “Lotor’s a monster and we’re hunting him.”

She paused for a split second before nodding her head, walking with a tiny bit more confidence than before. “You know what? Thank you, Shiro. I can absolutely get behind that.”

 Shit, Shiro was good at inspiring people, wasn’t he? Lance was honestly kind of jealous. Shiro was a Beta, but everything about him almost _screamed_ Alpha. Between all the other badass Omegas in his life, a Beta that might as well have been an Alpha, it was no surprise Keith was the way that he was.

“So you’re this Omega’s mate,” Romelle said, glancing back at Lance. “I’m a bit confused about you two though.”

“I’m his brother,” Shiro answered.

“I’m the one who tracked down the trafficking ring and am currently tracking the phone Keith has on him. Everyone would be lost without me,” Pidge noted, tilting her chin up proudly.

Romelle stumbled a bit before catching herself, shock tinting her voice. “Trafficking ring?”

Oh. She didn’t know. This was going to be a fun story.

As they explained to Romelle what happened, Lance couldn’t help but compare her to his first girlfriend. Maybe it was just the way she wore her hair, but there was something about her that really reminded him of Plaxum. Actually, she reminded him of Nyma too.

That was kind of eye-opening. Romelle was absolutely his type. He had always had a thing for the pretty, to the point where his friends pointed out that he could be a tad shallow. The thing is though, he didn’t feel a thing towards her.

Lance knew for a fact that mated people could still see others as attractive. Hell, Lance thought she was beautiful, but there was no draw towards her. It had been like every other pretty face that Hunk, Pidge, or Matt pointed out to him ever since he and Nyma had that terrible breakup.

Yet he had let Keith in so easily. It was strange.

His friends always teased him for falling hard and fast for people, and it was true, he used to get crushes maddeningly fast. When it came down to it though, his relationships tended to be stretched out. He always took a long time to say that he loved them. Always took a long time to decide whether he wanted to be their mate or not.

Plaxum had been a Beta and his first girlfriend. That had lasted for a while before things just fizzled out between them. They hadn’t stayed friends or anything, but there were no hugely hurt feelings between them.

Lance hadn’t really done well with relationships after that. He had flings here and there until Nyma came into his life.

That had been a little strange. It wasn’t often that Alphas were attracted to other Alphas. People looked at it as odd, but not quite as ‘scandalous’ as two Omegas together. There were a surplus of Alphas, after all. Two being together meant that they weren’t ‘taking’ other Omegas.

A part of Lance had honestly thought that maybe they would work out together. That they could become mates, get a house, adopted a few kids, and live together. Then she turned around revealed that she had been playing a long-con on him. She took everything that he had and ran off with some Omega named Rolo.

He hadn’t looked at anyone the same since then. Not until Keith had crashed into his life.

Huh, maybe there really was such a thing as fate.

Lance snapped out of his thoughts as Pidge finished the story of what was happening. Romelle looked pensive, her brow furrowing in the process.

The Beta woman sighed. “A few weeks ago, my brother vanished. It was before we realized that something was wrong, that Omegas were going missing.” She looked down at the ground. “The police didn’t particularly care, just considered it another gang-kid off the streets. Not that we expected anything else, but we found out there were more Omegas missing and thought they should know too.”

Oh god. Lance felt bad about snapping at her now. Sure, it wasn’t her mate, but he would be devastated if something happened to one of his siblings. “I’m sorry.” He was sure that was what Shiro was feeling now, and what Pidge would feel if something happened to Matt.

She nodded her head. “I kept thinking I could have done something. I admit…my brother was always braver than I. I should have gone with him. Met him. Tried to do something.”

Romelle took a deep breath, and a slight smile appeared on her face as she continued. “Then the other night, Hunk saved Shay. A complete stranger saw something bad happening and was brave enough to help. And he turned out to be so sweet too. When I saw that boy, Keith, being taken, I knew I had to do something. Hunk…inspired me I guess. Especially when I got to talk to him afterwards when I was doing his tattoo.  I didn’t stop it, because I was worried someone would go after Shay. She was with me. It was selfish and I’m sorry. But I—I got Shay into the room to help those two girls inside and followed them. I had to do something, and if my brother’s here…”

“I know. I get it,” Lance said with a nod of his head. He did. Not only would he take a chance to save his siblings, but he was willing to do whatever it took to help Keith.

“You care for him a lot,” she noted.

“I barely know him,” Lance admitted, “but I do.” So much that it was almost ridiculous.

They were silent for a moment before Shiro asked, “Romelle, what can you tell us about this place? What did you see?”

“By the time I got there, they were all inside. There doesn’t appear to be anyone outside, and all the cars are still there. I stayed in the edge of the woods, because I wasn’t quite sure if there were cameras or anything. I looked around a lot, but I’m not quite sure of a way in.”

“Leave that to me. I’ve got the blueprints for this place, as well as their security system,” Pidge assured her.

Romelle stared with surprise, and if he wasn’t so tense, Lance might have laughed. “Don’t question it.”

They all fell silent, which was probably for the best. As they drew closer to the edge of the treeline, Lance could hear voices outside.

They ducked down, out of sight, watching a lot of people moving around.

“I thought you said there was no one outside,” Shiro whispered to Romelle as he took in the scene.

“There wasn’t,” she replied, looking rather stunned.

Pidge shifted beside Lance, tilting her head to look at something. “Why are there so many kennels? Do they have a lot of dogs here?”

Lance followed her gaze, his heart dropping when he realized what he was looking at. There were a bunch of big guys loading cages into a plain, non-descript shipping truck. They were perfectly square, no doubt for easy stacking, and looked to be able to house a large dog comfortable. Each was covered by a plain white sheet.

Lance’s hands shook, as he muttered, “Pidge, I don’t think those are for dogs.”

“Then what…” She trailed off, her eyes going wide as she clapped a hand over her mouth, no doubt to avoid making a distressed sound as she put two and two together.

Lance looked up, grimacing when he saw one of the sheets move to reveal a blond-haired man inside, a strange black collar on his otherwise naked form. He had to look away, unable to watch that.

What if Keith was already in a cage like that? Stripped down and clearly drugged as he was toted around in worse conditions than an animal. The thought nearly made him throw up, but he didn’t want to get caught.

As horrible as it was to say, Lotor wanted to toy with Keith himself, so surely that meant that he wouldn’t be shoved into a cage.

“They’re moving the Omegas,” Romelle whispered, more than a bit surprised.

Shiro narrowed his eyes. “They knew someone was coming…but how…” He trailed off, grabbing his phone and starting to text. Apparently there was service out there. That was good, Lance guessed.

It was also annoying though, because they didn’t have time for this. “Shiro, we need to get in there.”

“I know,” he agreed. “But I need to get a hold of Krolia first.”

“Why Krolia?” Pidge wondered, asking the same question that Lance was thinking.

“We told the FBI where to go. There’s a rat somewhere, I doubt it’s in Romelle’s gang or our group. If there’s _one_ person with the agents right now that we can trust, it’s Krolia.” Shiro made an odd face. “Unless she’s with Acxa right now, expect Krolia to turn into a one-woman army and rain hell down on everyone when it looks like things are bad.”

Lotor _would_ be one to have a mole planted inside the very taskforce that was hunting him. That actually made _so_ much sense. Also, Lance was reminded once again that he probably should be properly terrified of his new mother-in-law. She did seem rather intense.

Lance looked towards the house. Hopefully that meant that Lotor had no idea _they_ were coming for him first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that happened. Live in fear. I MAY be able to update one more time before S7 airs, maybe Thursday night (I'm in Atlantic time so it airs at 4am here, so you bet I'll be sleeping peacefully then wasting 5 hours of my life to watch it Friday). 
> 
> If I don't update before then, do me a favour? No one flip out at the cast and crew if you don't like something that happens. Please? Be better. It's a great show that ISN'T about romance, and also, Lance isn't the main character. None are. You can have your opinions, share your opinions, but don't attack anymore. I feel like everyone who I've interacted with on here is better than that though! 
> 
> ALSO WE'RE JUST A FEW DAYS AWAY FROM S7 AND I'M DYING AT THE CLIP THAT DROPPED. Keith's my favourite character (surprise surprise), so I was both living and dying for it! 
> 
> Any questions? Or just wanna talk about things? Hit me up here or on my tumblr! 
> 
> Kaylee out!


	14. I Want To Go Home

Keith’s head swam as he slowly blinked his eyes open. His stomach twisted with nausea, his head pounding fiercely. Despite this though, he was still able to recognize where he was. He knew the clean, bright room dotted with soft, romantic décor. The blankets that were over him were comfortable and soft against his bare, skin.

Something moved behind him, and Keith remembered where he was. He had gone back to the Olkarion with Lance.

He turned to look at him, but any affection that he felt instantly vanished when he found himself staring into dark, bland blue eyes instead of deep oceanic ones. Nausea well up in him as he started to push away, but suddenly, he couldn’t. He couldn’t move his arm anymore.

Looking up, Keith saw a rope wrapped around his wrist so tightly that his hand was turning colours from a lack of circulation. He struggled, but Lotor pushed him back, climbing on top of him with a wicked grin.

“No,” Keith said, struggling to get him off. Suddenly though, his other hand was tied up. Hadn’t that _just_ been free? What was happening? “Lance!”

“You’re never going to see him or the rest of your family ever again,” Lotor said. He grabbed Keith’s chin and jerked it sideways. “Look.”

A scream built up in his throat when he saw a pile of corpses on the floor, blank eyes staring at him. Matt, Pidge, Hunk, Acxa, Allura, a bundle of blankets that suspiciously looked like an unseen baby, Shiro, his mother, Lance. Even the FBI agents were there! All of them were splattered with blood.

“Now you have no one except for me,” Lotor whispered into his ear, pressing his bare form against Keith’s.

The Omega screwed his eyes shut, bracing himself for the pain that was sure to come.

“Keith!”

The pressure was gone, and Keith’s eyes snapped open. He wasn’t tied onto a bed. Instead, he was sitting at a table in a very old looking kitchen, the open desert just beyond the window. He was fully clothed, much to his relief.

“Keith.”

He slowly looked around, his eyes widening at the person that stood before him. Tall, strong, and imposing by nature, but with a warm smile that made tears prick at the edge of his eyes. Keith simply breathed and stared for a moment, before whispering, “Dad?”

His father smiled warmly at him, and Keith’s heart twisted. The man reached out to him, drawing him close in warm embrace he hadn’t felt in years. “You’re okay,” the man assured him. “You’re safe.”

Keith let out a sob as he hugged the man tightly. He felt him place a hand on the top of his head. “It was just a nightmare. It’s okay. It’ll be okay.” Keith couldn’t even say anything to that, he whimpered and buried his face in his father’s shirt, taking in the warm, familiar scent. He remembered this from when he was younger, but there was something else about it. Something that pinged uselessly at the back of his mind.

“I’m so sorry, Keith,” his father said, his voice wavering. “For leaving you, your mother, your sister, and your brother. I’m sorry I’m not there for you when you need me most. It’ll be okay though.”

Keith looked up at him, blinking with surprise when he saw tears in the man’s eyes. He couldn’t ever remember seeing his father tear up before. It made his fight with his own tears an even greater struggle. “It’s not going to be okay.”

“It is,” the man assured him. “You’ll be okay. You’re strong.”

“I’m not,” Keith choked out, shame rushing through him. “I’m just an Omega. And I’ve done terrible things.” They had been so sure when he was younger that he’d be an Alpha, and that Acxa would be a Beta or Omega. He could remember the pride in his father’s eyes at that. “I’m sorry.”

“You are an Omega, and you did have to do something that many people would judge you for in the past,” his father agreed. “And you’re stronger because of it.” Keith looked up at him, surprised.

“But I thought you wanted me to be…you know…like you?”

The man shook his head. “No. I was always so proud because of what you used to say. If you were an Alpha, you were going to help change the world. You were going to treat Omegas like everyone else. I was so proud of that. You were always so strong in your convictions. And now, you’re an Omega. It’s what makes you strong. The world isn’t friendly to Omegas, you know that more than others. At the same time, it coddles them and tries to protect them, but in all the wrong ways. Everything you do, you have to do it a hundred percent better than anyone else, and might still be shrugged off. You’ve never given up though. Even when you’ve had to do things that others might frown on. You have those same convictions, with the firsthand experience to back it up. You’ve always been true to yourself. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to see.”

Oh god, he was going to cry. His father that he hadn’t seen in years was going to make him sob. “I’m not strong. You keep saying…but I killed it. Didn’t I? Then I clung to the first Alpha that wasn’t an asshole I can’t—if I keep acting that way around him…I’m just a part of the problem.”

“No,” his father disagreed. “What that monster did to you was unforgivable. What you had to do to get out of that situation was the right choice.” His tone left no room for argument, but not in a controlling way. It left Keith feeling a little better about _that_. “And tell me, was your mother weak for loving me?”

“No!” Weak was definitely not how Keith would describe Krolia. No, even though she had fallen low once, she managed to claw her way back up. “Of course not. But—“

“No buts.” He placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder and squeezed gently. Keith had always known that Shiro resembled their father, but it was so obvious at the moment. “Having a mate doesn’t make you weak. Choosing to _not_ go through with an unwanted or forced pregnancy doesn’t make you weak. Neither does having children, if it’s what you want. You and Acxa were the lights of my life along with your mother, and I wish dearly that I had known about Shiro. Love isn’t a weakness, it’s a strength. Caring, is a strength. Knowing who you are, what you want, and going for that despite what everyone else says is a strength.”

Keith knew he had a point. He could see it. Still, he couldn’t help but say, “I’m not in love yet.” Just _very_ fond of a certain Alpha.

“That’s fair,” his father agreed. “But I don’t want you to think you’re weak or wrong for going for what you want. For taking a risk. You’re my strong, stubborn boy. You claw your way back from your worst moments and turn yourself into a better person not despite them, but because of them. You won’t give up.”

“What do I do?” Keith asked him.

“What do you want to do?”

The answer came to him without any hesitation. “Get away from Lotor. Stop him from hurting all those other Omegas.” He paused. “Go with Lance and figure things out.”

His father smiled at him warmly. “You know what to do then, don’t you?”

Keith _did_ know what he had to do. It was so clear in his mind now that he thought about it. He nodded his head.

“Good.” His father smiled warmly at him. “I am _so_ proud of you.”

That was where Keith snapped. A sob escaped his throat, and he found himself hugging his father. His entire body shook as he came to a revelation. “This isn’t real. This is a dream, isn’t it?”

His father chuckled. “This is a dream. Who says that makes it any less real though?”

…

Was it possible to get tired of falling unconscious and waking up in places he didn’t know? Because Keith was absolutely at that stage as he eyes slowly blinked open. Well, to be fair, he was still in the room that Lotor had brought him too. He could tell from stench alone. What had happened to make him feel so tired and sick this time?

He tried to remember what had happened. For a moment, everything was blank, and then it all rushed back to him at once. The collar. The drugs. Lotor. The knife slicing down his face. Being unable to breathe.

Keith could hear voices nearby, so he only moved slightly to test out if he could move at all. Relief rushed through him when he felt his fingers flex and clench willing. He didn’t dare move too much yet to draw attention to himself, instead focusing on mentally assessing his body.

He was still dreadfully warm from his heat, that familiar slight weakness to his muscles, and the tightness to his skin. For some reason though, it wasn’t as strong as even before he fell unconscious. Definitely still there, but not overwhelming. Maybe they had done something to make the drugs in his system useless. That might explain why he wasn’t currently suffocating.

The heat was still there though, maybe because it was going to start sooner rather than later anyway thanks to bonding with Lance.

Keith wasn’t at all surprised that he didn’t feel any of that tell-tale arousal or anything that came with a healthy heat, though he _did_ feel that instinctual longing for his Alpha. It was new, something he had never felt before, but he still knew what it was. Given the situation though, it was only an urge for comfort and safety, nothing sexual. Already, he could see _why_ everyone said that mates would be miserable without one another during their heats and ruts. A part of him had always assumed that was some kind of lie or propaganda for control, but now he was realizing that there probably was truth behind this one.

Of course he wouldn’t feel that taste of arousal that always demanded attention during heats, he was a distressed Omega in a very bad situation that wasn’t at all conducive to safely making a baby.

Most people didn’t realize that about Omegas. Many people said that their senses were lessened, but that wasn’t true at all. They could smell better than ever (and their sense of taste was stronger due to that), pick up on any slight movements in their environment both visually and audibly, and that was nothing compared to their sense of touch. Even the smallest brush against warm skin could send an Omega reeling if it was the right person and the right place.

Yes, when an Omega was in a completely safe and secure environment, with food, water, easy access to a bathroom with the guarantee of not running into anyone, they did tend to get very distracted. Keith imagined it was an even bigger thing with a mate that they loved and trusted. That made sense. The entire point of heats wasn’t to have sex, it was all about reproduction. If conception happened in a different way, or it was the most painful thing in the universe, they’d still have that desire for it. Most people didn’t know or acknowledge that, preferring to think of Omegas as mindless creatures that only wanted to get laid. Really though, what good was that urge to an Omega that was in danger?

Survival instincts were an _amazing_ thing.

Then Keith realized something else.

The morning before (Was it the morning before? He had no idea how long he’d been unconscious.), Keith had experienced a very telling discomfort after his _consensual_ night with Lance, but he didn’t feel anything like that now. It had honestly reminded him of waking up with his boyfriends as a teenager, but his body wasn’t entirely used to it yet. It didn’t hurt in the wrong way. Keith _knew_ what it felt like to have an Alpha force himself on him, to take something he wasn’t willing to give. The fact that he didn’t feel that way was part of the reason he _hadn’t_ immediately flipped out when he was with Lance in the hotel (that and the bondmark). It had been uncomfortable, but not like he was being torn apart from the inside out.

He didn’t feel _anything_ at all from his hips, pelvis, genitals, or anything else outside of dull aches that came with heats and exertion. In fact, his face and chest hurt _much_ worse than anything else.

Movement caught his eye, and Keith forced himself to keep his breathing calm as not one, but two people came into his sightline. He pretended to still be unconscious with only a sliver of his eyes opened.

One of them was Lotor, but along with him was a woman with dark grey hair and amber eyes. It took him a moment, but Keith realized that he knew her. This was Lotor’s mother, and she did _not_ look happy in the least.

“I thought I raised you to be smarter than this!”

“Mother, he is mine. I will not tolerate—“

“For something that you claim is yours, you’ve done a _terrible_ job at controlling him at all. You’ve done a terrible job at keeping him alive. If it wasn’t for me, he would be dead right now. Asphyxiated by the drugs I _told_ you we cannot give to anyone without testing them first!” Holy shit, Keith had _never_ seen someone go off on Lotor like this before, and he had seen Coran absolutely lose his shit at the Alpha after what happened to Allura. “What is it? What is it about _this_ common mongrel that makes you so uncharacteristically idiotic? I have told you again and again that he’s not good enough to carry on the family line!”

Keith couldn’t believe that Lotor was just standing there and taking the woman’s triad (Also, ow? Mongrel?). He couldn’t believe that someone like Lotor was allowing his Omega mother to treat him like that.

The Omega mother that helped him run Daizabaal Industries. The one that he actively gave power to. Holy shit, Lotor was a mama’s boy, wasn’t he? One of those ones that probably worshipped their own mother for being a perfect Omega, and and thought that everyone else needed to be like them. The nasty hypocrites.

“Mother!” Lotor snarled at her.

There was an air of sudden submission that came on too quickly to not be on purpose. Was she manipulating her scent, her emotions, at will like that? What the hell? “I just want the best for you, my son.”

That seemed to abate the Alpha’s anger. “I know, mother.” He moved closer to the bed, and Keith made sure to keep his eyes entirely closed. “You’ve made your position on my courting very clearly.”

“I approved of Alfor’s daughter,” she said, “and I can understand your desire to repay them for their slight. I do not agree that you had to lower your expectations so much.”

“Perhaps, but you must admit, he was quite beautiful once.” Keith forced himself not to move as if felt a hand running on him. “For a time, his sister was quite loyal. He’s also very likely to carry more than one pup at a time, as it is with multiples.”

“That’s true,” Honerva agreed, and the hand disappeared. “However, there are many Omegas even more striking that also come with very nice bonuses. Your father chose me for such things.” Her voice lowered. “Not to mention you’ve marred the beauty of this one. Look at his face. That will leave a horribly ugly scar.”

Lotor was silent for a moment before saying, “I was thinking something similar earlier. He doesn’t seem very mentally stable. He’s quite delusional. That’s not something I want to pass on to any heirs. And I certainly _do_ deserve an Omega I can show off in public. This one has been tarnished by that filthy Alpha, not to mention that family of his.”

“Exactly,” Honerva sounded suddenly eager. “There are other ways to repay slights.”

“Yes. It wouldn’t be hard to put them on the streets. Neither are worth much as it is.” Lotor’s scent began to sour. “This Omega would have been a stain on our family. I have accepted that.”

Keith couldn’t believe that this was happening, but then a flash of fear rushed through him. If he no longer mattered to Lotor, he _knew_ what was going to happen to him next. God, he hoped that someone was tracking Lance’s phone.

“You’ve always had a mind for strategy,” Honerva praised. Keith could smell her coming closer, and though sweet like an Omega, there was also something heavy and intense about her. “What shall we do with him?”

There was a pause and then, “Acxa and Ezor have learned their lessons. He will too. When he’s conscious. I may as well get something out of him. Then, he’ll know my mercy, that I could have ripped everything from him but was kind. That he owes me his very life. We’ll leave him somewhere for his filthy Alpha to find.”

He couldn’t think about the other creepy stuff right now, his mind jerking over the fact that Lotor wanted to give him _back_ to Lance. That didn’t make sense. Why would he? Maybe his mother didn’t know about the trafficking. It would make sense for Lotor to want to keep her out of the loop. She was an Omega, after all.

Except, she was the one developing collars like the one that was on his neck. Surely if the others had something similar on, she’d wonder why they needed so many if it wasn’t going out to the public?

When Honerva spoke next, she sounded very unhappy. “Son, you might have already been seen with him. It’d be dangerous for you to do it. Let me help you. You are all I have left, and I want to see you happy.”

“If it will make you feel better, Mother.” Honerva didn’t reply, but the two left the room, closing and locking the door behind them.

Keith waited a moment before opening his eyes. With a small grunt, he managed to push himself up into a sitting position and stared at the door, completely confused. Nothing made sense.

He understood the meaning of Lotor’s words. Just because the Alpha _hadn’t_ raped him yet didn’t mean that he was safe. In fact, Keith was _expecting_ it to happen. He was in heat after all, and while Alphas could very easily control themselves around the scent, those who were already willing to hurt someone wouldn’t hesitate to act on their urges.

His scent probably wasn’t that great anyway, considering he was pretty sure he had nearly died and his heat was weird and muddled, but Alphas didn’t always care about things like that.

Keith took a couple deep breaths and looked around the room, his eyes falling on the bedside table. He nearly balked in surprise when he saw that they _actually_ left his knife and phone there. Hadn’t even looked at it. Either this was some kind of trap, or they genuinely just overlooked it as people often do with objects that they set down in rooms.

He wasted no time in grabbing both of them, slipping the phone into one pocket, and the knife into the other. Logically, Keith knew he could call 9-1-1 with Lance’s phone, even if they were out of a service area or didn’t know his password, it would still go through. Horror movies got that so wrong. The thing was, he didn’t know when someone was coming through the door, and he was not losing that.

Keith paused when he saw a heap of blue on the floor. Slowly, he managed to climb out of the bed, his knees quaking slightly, not knowing if it was from the drugs or his heat. A rather pathetic sound escaped him when he realized that it was the shirt Lance had given him that morning.

Picking it up, Keith held it to his face, inhaling and reveling in the relief his mate’s scent provided. Another, small whimper escaped his lips. Oh god, he wanted his mate so much. He was in heat, he was hurt, he had been taken, drugged, and nearly raped. Yeah, he _really_ wanted his mate, even above everyone else that he had known for years.

He wasn’t helpless, but as he tugged on the shirt (not liking the fact that it got caught on the collar around his neck), Keith really hoped that Pidge or the FBI was tracking Lance’s phone.

The next thing he did was stumble towards the mirror to look at the collar, trying to see if there was a way to get it off again. He paused, staring at himself. Holy _shit_ he looked terrible. His skin was marred with bruises, and a there large, gauzy bandage across the right side of his face that had a bit of blood leaking through. He pressed his fingers to it, a small whine escaping him from the pain that rushed through him.

“That will hurt for a while.”

Keith jumped and wheeled around, staring at Honerva with wide eyes. She took a few steps towards him, and he instinctively inched away. There was something cold in her eyes that had him on edge.

 Fingers brushed against the collar as he asked, “What did you do to me?”

She eyed him for a moment. “My son is a genius when he chooses to be, and an idiot the second he starts thinking with anything other than his brain.” She hummed thoughtfully, coming closer to him without an ounce of fear. Keith backed up some, not liking the fact that she was eyeing him like he was a science experiment. “You must be allergic to something. Hmm. You’re newly mated, so you wouldn’t have access to contraceptives…suppressants then. Something in them that I would have used to create my serums.”

He blinked, but didn’t answer.

“I’ll take that as a yes. You had an allergic reaction after my idiot son injected you with doses that were far too high for you. Fortunately, I knew how to help. It’s not the first time.” She eyed him. “Though it does tend to interrupt all of the serums instead of just one. I’m sure you feel strange. Like you’re in heat, but not in heat.”

“Why would you save me if I’m just a mongrel??” he blurted out

Something flashed in the woman’s amber eyes, and she looked almost amused. “I thought your breathing changed earlier.” At some point, Keith had backed his way to the middle of the room, allowing her the opportunity to walk around him in circles, eyeing him. “What a shame that Lotor ruined your face. It would have been such a selling feature. Well, perhaps we don’t have to put something like you to waste? You’re strong, healthy, fertile, with the genetic predisposition to have more than one pup at a time. You’d still make a very good product. Marked would give another item to our clientele with that taste. Though perhaps a discount. That scar will be hideous.”

_“What do you take me for? My father? I saw to it that that aspect of his business died with him. Such a classless, desperate thing to do.”_

Keith tried to keep his eyes on Honerva, but froze as everything clicked in place. Zarkon had been running the trafficking ring, and it was pretty common knowledge to those who knew the Galdara family at all that Lotor wasn’t a fan of the man, to put it mildly. Everyone has suspicions that Lotor did something to make him disappear. If Lotor knew about a trafficking ring, he was arrogant enough to think that he had shut it down years ago.

It wasn’t just that. It was the way he mishandled the collar. Why he was so sloppy in taking him. Why he was going to give him back.

Lotor wasn’t the only monster in his family.

“You’re an Omega,” Keith breathed out, shifting a way, inching ever closer to the door. “Why would you—it’s not—but Lotor—“

The woman froze, staring at him with narrowed eyes. “What is it you _think_ you know?”

Before Keith could answer, a tall man came into the room.  There was a vicious scar going over one eye that was covered over with a patch. He was absolutely huge, and reeked of something so strong, but so clearly Alpha, that Keith actually felt a bit nauseated. Everything about his scent screamed ‘submit’ in even a way that Lotor’s didn’t.

Keith never thought he’d see a day when he thought Lotor was _subtle_.

“Honerva,” the man said, “I’ve gotten word from Haxus.” He held a tablet out to her. “We need to leave.”

Honerva’s fingers curled around the tablet as she read, before she shoved it back towards him. “Start moving the Omegas. Prioritize the prime ones. Neutralize the weak ones.” Her eyes turned towards Keith, amber blazing with anger. “Send for Prorok. We need an empty cage for this one.”

Keith stared with wide eyes, not sure what was happening, but knowing he needed to stay away from her. There was something dangerous and wild in her eyes, like a caged animal that had been starved and just let loose. His eyes darted to the windows. He was definitely at least on the second storey of a building, but he may be able to scale down. Acxa had once admitted to being jealous of his ability to scale nearly anything out a spite alone.

The door flew open again, and never once had Keith thought that he’d be relieved to see Lotor, yet, here they were.

It wasn’t like Lotor was suddenly okay. No, he was still a monster, but he was the monster that was less likely to pack him in a cage at this moment. Harder to…access him that way.

“Mother!” Lotor snapped at her. “Why is Dayak insisting we leave? What have you do?” The accusatory tone was there and obvious.

Oh god, he really had no idea what was going on, did he? Keith didn’t know how to work that out in his mind.

Honerva looked up at him. “My sweet son. You are one of the loves of my life, just as your father was.” Completely out of nowhere, she hit him even harder than before, sending the Alpha reeling away before he managed to catch himself. “Do you know that this boy’s face is all over the news? That you putting him in your car in broad daylight is on the news? Did you think that no one would care? That an Alpha carrying an Omega to a car wouldn’t be seen as odd?” She shoved him away violently. “Our friend inside the FBI tells us that we have visitors on the way here. We have little time. Go with Dayak so you’re not caught here while I clean up your mess.”

Keith didn’t know what prompted him to do it, he didn’t trust Lotor at all, but the man was a _familiar_ threat.  A familiar threat with pride and ego that could easily be manipulated. He could get away from another attempt at rape, could _take_ that over the unknown. He didn’t know what to make of Honerva. “She wants to get her Omegas packed. The ones she’s trafficking. Just like Zarkon.”

It was like the air had been sucked out of the room. Honestly, Keith didn’t expect Lotor to believe him, he was just a pathetic, mongrel of an Omega. The Alpha looked at him oddly before looking at his mother. “What did you drug him with this time?”

“You know as well as I do, Lotor, that most Omegas cannot be trusted. Only a few, like me.” She looked at her son. “Most are weak and pathetic, and will do anything for a knot and pups. He realizes you’re not going to keep him, and he’s in heat. What do you think he’s trying to do?”

“Of course,” he answered smoothly, tilting his chin up and looked at Keith with a familiar arrogance. There was a predatory look in his eyes. “Remember what I said earlier? I’d show you what a real Alpha is like, fill you with my bastard pups, and give you back?” He smirked. “There is plenty of room for that while traveling. Come, Omega.”

Except, he wasn’t using his commanding tone. Keith _knew_ what Lotor looked like when he was trying to get into his pants. This wasn’t it. Well, yes, Lotor would probably try to knot him the second he got the chance. Logically speaking, Keith knew that going with Lotor would probably seem to be a terrible idea, however, he was getting the distinct impression that it may be the better option. Keith trusted his gut. He was also absolutely sure it had nothing to do with the heat gnawing at his abdomen.

“Leave him,” Honerva snapped before Keith could move. “Go.”

The Alpha glared at his mother. “He is still mine. I choose what to do with him. You only have respect because I allow you to have it.”

Honerva sighed. “Your father was far too brash for this and was going to get us caught, it was why I let it slip to you what he was doing. You went the other way, and think you’re far too clever and want to be an _honest_ business man. You think we get our money from those weapons deals? To create marvels like this.” She motioned towards the collar on Keith’s neck.

Now, Lotor looked both cautious and confused. “You created that to save our species. We must keep every Omega healthy so they can be bred. Omega, come.”

Keith almost wanted to cry. Holy shit, how had this happened? He was probably _safer_ with Lotor, an Alpha that was going to _rape_ him, than Honerva, an Omega. He very slowly started to approach Lotor, trying to figure a plan of attack. If he could get out of the room, get outside the house, he could run. Sure, he didn’t have shoes or anything, but there was a forest. He could hide, and call for help once he was safe.

Honerva stared at Keith, her hand moving slightly before she swung around, fist stopping at Lotor’s neck. The Alpha let out a gurgling choke of a gasp before falling down, and Honerva opened her hand to show an empty vial with a spring loaded needle, the tiniest bit of blue tinting the vial. “You are so intelligent, Lotor. Not as brash as your father, but I still see too much of him in you. I do hope you have time to learn.” She turned her eyes to Keith, who was too stunned to say anything. She kept her gaze on him before pulling out her phone and pressing a few numbers. “Dayak, come and fetch Lotor in his room. Take him to his car and remove him from this situation.”

Oh god. She had just attacked her own son, a tall, strong Alpha who was absolutely a psychopath, all with a blank face.

Keith reacted without thinking as she stepped towards him. In a flash, he pulled the knife out of his pocket and slashed it across her face.

Honerva screeches and fell, clutching as her face as blood dripped through her fingers. Keith didn’t wait to see how bad it was, he _ran_.

He ran on pure instincts and adrenaline that pushed him through the slight weakness and fatigue that always came with heats. It was how, when he ran into a wall woman most likely going up the stairs for Lotor, he was able to easily push her and keep running.

A group of burly Alphas looked up at him as he flew around the landing of the stairs, stunned to see him. Keith didn’t think, he just ran in the other direction to avoid them, not knowing where he was going.

He heard shouts behind him as he ran through a door and slammed it shut, sliding a large deadbolt on it to lock it behind him. It didn’t even occur to Keith to wonder why it could be locked like that.

It was only when he reached the bottom of the staircase that he paused and mentally cursed himself.

When watching horror movies, Keith kind of had a habit of growling at the screen, telling the characters what they should or shouldn’t do to survive. In his adrenaline-fuelled run, he had just done one of the things he always yelled about. He went into the basement. At least going up, there was a chance he might be able to climb out. Basements were horrible though.

Swallowing, Keith shakily stumbled forward, pausing when he realized what he was looking at. It looked like a mad scientists’ lair, which kind of made sense. Even with permission, an Omega would never be allowed to have the expertise that Honerva did. They’d never be allowed to control the chemicals within their own bodies.

There was a loud crash from up above the stairs, and he darted forward, crouching down behind a gurney, carefully moving around so that he was out of sight of the doors. That was when he heard the noises and was assaulted by the mixed smell of several Omegas in heat. It made him want to whine in response, want to curl up and give into the warmth rising up in his belly, but he wouldn’t. He couldn’t.

Steeling himself, Keith slowly crept forward, staying low as he moved from one room to the next.

His breath left him when he saw people in cages. No, not just people, Omegas. The ones that were there looked sickly, groaning and tired. A scraping sound caught his attention, and Keith looked down the room to see a man wheeling away a kennel with another person in it.

Fighting off both the urge to vomit, and the urge to curl up in the safest corner he could find, Keith pulled Lance’s phone out of his pocket, relieved to see that he could access the camera from the lock screen.

He moved quietly and carefully, making sure that there was no sound and that the flash was off as he took pictures, proof of what was happening there. There were several rooms that had obviously been abandoned. Some were clearly places to mix components, like a chemistry lab, one was set up almost like a photographer’s studio, others appeared to be storage rooms, or rooms that probably once housed Omegas.

The FBI was coming, so they were trying to clear out everything, but he wasn’t going to let them get away with it. He was going to document everything he could while slowly making his way in the direction that he had seen the other Omega being wheeled away.

There was no way that they were getting them up the stairs. There had to be some kind of loading dock or something.  In a mansion like this, it wouldn’t surprise him.

Hearing footsteps, Keith slipped into a room to stay out of sight. It looked like it was originally supposed to be some kind of kitchen with sinks and what looked to be a massive walk-in fridge.

Keith slapped his hand over his mouth to stop from yelping when he heard a radio crackle to life. He pressed himself close against the wall, trying to stay out of sight as a couple of men drew closer to the door.

“Okay. Got it. 10-4.” The man with the radio groaned. “Apparently some Omega got loose and is running around down here.”

“Dumb thing is probably looking for a knot to fuck,” the other said, sounding almost tired about it.

“Maybe we can help it out if we find it,” the first one replied, perking up a bit.

“I get first dibs this time. You got the other one last time.”

Keith was going to be sick, but he managed to hold it together. There were too many heat scents, they would never pick him out, but if there was a loading dock or something where that other Omega had been wheeled, he’d have to run by them to get there. He was fast, but he knew he couldn’t outrun them while he was in heat, survival instincts or not.

Backing up slightly, his hand hit a metal bowl, and his heart stopped when it crashed into the floor. A moment later, two tall men were at the door.

“Oh, looks like we found it,” one of them leered, eyes raking up and down Keith’s body. “Damn, this one’s really hot too.”

“I called dibs.” The shorter of the two started forward. “Come here, sweetheart. I know you’re probably scared, but I can help you. Give you want you want before we have to go.”

Casting a glance down at the Alpha’s stretched out hand, Keith snarled and lashed out again with his knife. The man yelled in shock, stumbling back as he held his bleeding hand. Had Keith managed to get a finger? Didn’t matter.

“You bitch! I’ll shove that right up your stupid cunt!” the man howled. The other Alpha was stunned for a second before advancing on Keith quickly.

Keith moved without thinking. He threw the metal bowl that fell into the other man’s face, and moved to try to get around them, but the bleeding man blocked his way with a snarl.

He quickly retreated, throwing himself at the door to the fridge and ripping it open. One of them grabbed him, but he grabbed a test tube rack filled with different liquids and swung around, slamming it into the man’s face. He recoiled and yelled, and Keith urged forward into the walk-in fridge, slamming the door behind it and holding it shut for all he was worth. There’d be no way to block it, since it swung outwards and not inwards.

“Fuck, leave it!” one of the man yelled. “Lock it in and turn down the temperature. It’s not going anywhere.”

There was the sound of metal on metal, and the hum in the fridge got louder. Keith waited for the door to fly open, but no one was trying to break in anymore. He breathed in deeply, the cold air finally settling against his too warm skin. He shuddered and bit and looked around.

There was a light on above him, which was good, because he didn’t want to use Lance’s phone too much and wear out the battery. Though he was definitely going to have to get some pictures of this place. There were rows and rows of liquid filled vials and many other different concoctions. Some of which he’d shattered on the floor in his mad dash to seal himself in. It hadn’t really occurred to him what he was doing when he threw that rack of test tubes at the guy, too busy on trying to get away.

Keith stayed away from the vials, knowing that if he cut his bare feet, something could get in him and there’d be no way to save him this time. At least he only got allergic reactions from ingesting or being injected with things.

He slumped down onto the cold floor, crossing his legs and pulling his bare feet up so that they weren’t touching the ground. He sat there for a few moments, just breathing, noting briefly that he could actually see his breath.

Then he broke. Keith grabbed at his hair and tugged it sharply, a shrill screech only escaping him now, not when it could have helped him by stunning the two men. He was so, _so_ stupid. He should have found another way to go instead of running down into Honerva’s freak show of a laboratory and Omega-storage spot. Should have tried to get by everyone upstairs to get outside.

Hell, he should have waited a couple minutes for Lance to come in the room at the safe house and showed him the text. He should have trusted the FBI.

He had been entirely alone in that house with a new mate he barely knew, his mate’s friends, and some FBI agents. It wasn’t _his_ fault that the last time he trusted law enforcement, he was basically told that the situation was technically his fault.

_“You should have stayed home. Going to an Alpha’s house just before your heat like that is an invitation, kid. He couldn’t help himself. He was just doing what comes natural. If you take this to court as is, you won’t win. They won’t convict him for that. Don’t worry, though, you’ll be able to get lower charges.”_

What comes natural to him. Right. Because lying about your age and saying that you’re younger than you really are (there was a huge difference between a three-year age gap and an eight- year one), and then raping someone is natural.

He told Lance that someone tried to hurt him that way. He hadn’t wanted to say the truth of what happened, knowing that it would probably send him off in a fit of apologies that Keith wasn’t able to handle.

For a while, he kind of believed that Alphas were all cruel brutes. The thing was, Acxa respected Ezor like non-other. Their friend Zethrid, an Alpha, never once showed interest in Keith. He knew his father had been an amazing person too. He knew there were good people of every dynamic.

Lance was one of those good people. He wasn’t afraid of him; despite how much he could have been.

Tears streaked down his cheeks as he sobbed, the distress taking over him entirely. He wanted to go home. No, actually, he didn’t want to go home at all. Home was where Lotor had started stalking him, leading him here. Home was where the police said it was his fault for being sexually assaulted.  Yes, home was also his mother and Shiro, home was the memories of his father, but that wasn’t enough anymore.

No, he wanted to go with _his_ Alpha. He didn’t want to be anywhere close to home or here anymore. Being on the other side of the country was more than a bit appealing.

Keith sniffled slightly, trying to wipe away his tears as his body shuddered, and he curled in on himself, for once welcoming the searing heat that came from his body. It would help him avoid hypothermia for a lot longer than he would be able to if he wasn’t in heat, but that wouldn’t matter.

He had absolutely no idea where they were. It had to be far from big and busy Vegas, since they were isolated and there were trees. Even if they tracked the phone, what were the odds they’d find him in a fridge, in a tiny room, in a giant basement of a giant house before he froze? It wasn’t very likely. Especially since anyone who may happen to come would (rightfully, in his opinion) help the Omegas that didn’t look too good in the cages.

Keith took several deep breaths, shuddering as he did. He had once heard that freezing to death was a lot like going to sleep. He could deal with that. It would get cold, so very cold first, and then it would start getting warm, and he’d stop shivering, and he’d get sleepy.

His eyes glanced around. Before that though, there was something else he had to do.

Keith pulled out the phone, turning on the camera app again. He switched it from photo to video, and held it before him, pressing the record button.

“Lance,” he choked out. They had only known each other for a little over a day, but because they were bonded, the Alpha was going to take it _horribly_ when they found Keith. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so, so sorry.” He blinked rapidly. “They said they’d kill Acxa if I didn’t go alone and I should have told you anyway but I just…I thought that I could do it alone. I thought that maybe if I played into the trap I could lead the FBI to other Omegas. I’m sorry. I hope they find them.” Keith inhaled sharply. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—I just…” He trailed off with a whimper and squeezed his eyes shut. “I—it’s not Lotor. He’s an asshole and was going to—but it’s his mother. Not him. She’s running this. This collar puts drugs in me. Fertility, heat, submission, or just full-on like sleep paralysis. Someone needed to know.” He glanced towards the battery on the screen. Lance’s phone wasn’t exactly new, and the cold was sapping it quickly.

Opening his eyes again, Keith stared at the camera. “I’m sorry. I really wanted to, but I don’t think I’ll be going home with you anymore.”

He broke again, and had to stop the recording, curling up into himself and whimpering.

Keith just wanted to go home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLOT TWIST: IT WAS HAGGAR ALL ALONG.
> 
> I did say, once, that Lotor's mother did stuff with the company (or I meant to and the line got deleted but I THOUGHT it was still there), which should have hit everyone as odd, since she was called his 'mother', ergo she was the one that gave birth to him, and given his focus on Omegas, there was no way she was a Beta. LOTOR let his Omega mother work with the company. Odd, huh?
> 
> Don't get me wrong, Lotor is still a monster. He's a killer, a rapist, a psycho, but he's NOT involved in the trafficking.
> 
> Another thing here that I've hinted at before that is honestly a really tragic part about Keith's backstory. Some pieces of it are /very/ straightforward here. The other pieces you can put together pretty easily. 
> 
> Thank you all for your feedback and reactions! I love having conversations with all of you! And to think, S7 is only a few hours away!
> 
> Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter! All Keith all the way! And I'm not sure if this is going to have more than 16 chapters or not, we'll see!


	15. Coming To The Rescue

Pidge had grown up with a rather sheltered life, even if that wasn’t the intention of her parents. She just never clicked right with kids her age. Sure, she liked playing games and everything, but she never spoke like them, and she liked doing science experiments, and understood how to build and make things work in ways that even adults sometimes didn’t understand. It was why her older brother became her best friend, despite being five years older than her.

It made her a little bit oblivious to the world, at least until she started learning about dynamics. It was fascinating, and a bit horrifying. The thing was, she thought for year that she was a Beta. She was happy with that.

As it turned out, she was a late bloomer of an Omega. Then her world flipped upside down, and suddenly people were interested in her where they weren’t before. Suddenly, all her avenues to university were completely cut off.

What mattered was the fact that she could (and to many others, should) have pups and be content with a mate. The thing was, she had never felt that pull towards people, no matter their scent.

Sure, she had a crush here or there before, but it wasn’t the same thing. She didn’t understand what other Omegas meant by feeling the extreme arousal that came with heats. Yes, a part of her mind was stuck on babies and pups during them, and she always felt hot, weak, and uncomfortable, but never once had she felt the actual urge to have sex. For a long time, she assumed that she was broken or wrong.

As it turned out, she was just asexual. Her parents understood and made sure that it was hard for others to identify her dynamic, because most people didn’t understand. Most people assumed what she originally thought: that she was wrong and broken.

She was glad that her parents were so open and accepting of her. She was glad that they actually tried to find a solution that worked for her too. Due to that, people overlooked her and she was able to watch and see how Omegas that weren’t overlooked were treated. It sickened her.

She thought the worst case she had ever heard was what happened to Lance’s cousin, but this, this whole scenario was absolutely bonkers. Who was she to try to compare different forms of suffering anyway? It all sucked.

Pidge could get behind the fact that Lance now had a mate. That was still mind boggling, and a bit worrisome, but at the same time, Keith seemed genuine enough. He seemed like a good guy. She got the feeling that he’d be good for Lance, and that Lance would be good for him.

What was absolutely mindboggling though was just how much that things spiralled out of control, and she kind of blamed herself in a way. She was the one that had drunkenly decided to hack Lotor as revenge for being a creep to another Omega. She was absolutely that type of vindictive, and had done it before for people she had met in passing or heard about. It was much easier to not get caught (not that she ever was) when you had no personal attachment to the person you were hacking.

The thing was, they could _actually_ end up helping people with this. This was a huge thing. As an Omega, Pidge was automatically put in a position where she couldn’t easily make a difference or try to change things, but with this, she could.

She didn’t want anyone to get hurt though. It may have been selfish of her, but she would take her friends, and potentially a new friend in Keith, over a bunch of other faceless people.

Pidge was torn out of her thoughts when Romelle shifted beside her. The Beta woman was staring at one of the cameras they had set up that would record anything that happened outside of the building, just in case.

She focused again on her computer, looking through the blueprints of the house she found. “It’s possible that these are wrong, that there are secret rooms and stuff like that. I don’t know how rich, psychos live. Anyway, we do know that there’s a loading dock, and it apparently goes right down to the basement of all things. It really seems to be the easiest way in.”

“With people coming out,” Romelle pointed out skeptically. Pidge had known her for probably about half an hour at this point, and she could already see why Romelle and Hunk would have gotten along. She was fairly skeptical and critical about most things.

Pidge opened her mouth to argue, but the other woman was right. That was a bit of a problem.

Shiro moved forward some, snapping pictures of the trucks before sending them off to someone. Pidge was betting it was Krolia. “Even if these trucks go, they’ll still be able to get them. There’s only one way out of here for vehicles that big, right?”

They all fell silent as a tall, broad woman got into one of the trucks and pulled away.

“Do you think he’s in there?” Pidge looked back at Lance, who had his eyes on the truck, opening and closing his fist. He smelled so agitated and upset that it almost made her want to cringe. Then again, it was his new mate that had been taken by a psychopath, and no one knew what had happened to him.

Pidge internally scolded Keith again. She understood his plan (or what she was pretty sure was his plan), and probably would have done the same, but she hated that it hurt her friend.

“No,” Shiro answered, his entire body tense. Right, if Lance as bothered, Shiro had even more right to be. He was the one that actually knew Keith. Pidge understood, she would have lost it if something happened to Matt. “He was too important to Lotor. He’ll be keeping him close, even if it’s just out of revenge.”

“Then we should get in there,” Lance insisted.

“Not yet. We need to wait until it looks like they’re done loading up that truck,” the Beta mumbled, though he didn’t sound too happy about that.

Pidge bit her lip and thought about the situation, looking over her equipment. She had already hacked into the wifi that was in the house, but maybe…

“I may be able to track everyone here,” she said slowly, drawing the attention of everyone. “If they have a phone, that is. I can go through the wifi, or look for anything outputting a signal and track it. I can guide you guys through towards the signal on Lance’s phone. I mean, it’d be super complicated to do, but I could probably pull it off. The only problem is that I’d have no way of knowing if a person without a phone is there or not.”

“What about the cameras?” Romelle asked. “I imagine there’d be some set up, right? Couldn’t you use those to look?”

Pidge stared at her for a moment, before muttering, “Why didn’t I think of thatThat was a much faster, better idea. Now was _not_ the time to fall off her game!

“That’ll help us a lot, but for now, the rest of the plan is the same. We need to be careful about this.” Shiro looked towards Lance. “I want to get Keith out of there as much as you, but us getting caught will make things worse.” He looked back around at Pidge and Romelle. “Alright. Pidge, I’ll keep my phone on a call with Romelle, that way your phone is free to keep in touch with Allura, Matt, and Hunk. I’ll have my Bluetooth connected to it the whole time.” He motioned towards the device that was already in his ear.  

 “We got cameras rolling, so we won’t miss anything, but you two need to stay low. Pidge, once you get things up and running, we’re counting on you to keep guide us, okay? Romelle, if something happens, call that number I programmed into your phone. That’ll call Krolia. It’ll be easier to get a direct line to her than anyone else in the FBI.” He faced Lance again. “We’re going to stick together, since we only have one phone. Our goal is to try and get in, find Keith, and get out. Nothing else. I imagine there are going to be a lot of heat scents in there if they have Omegas that they’re auctioning off, that’s what buyers would want to see. It may even be a bit overwhelming for me, though I’m a Beta. You’ll be completely immune though, and you’ll be able to catch Keith’s scent much easier. When we find him, he’ll probably want you, not me, so as soon as you can, go to him.” He looked at the girls again. “If the FBI gets here, tell them what’s going on. Everyone got it?”

Pidge couldn’t help but admire Shiro. He was one hell of a good leader. There were so many things that could go wrong with this plan, but she still truly believed that it was going to work.

“I’ll let you know when I have access to everything,” Pidge said, looking at her laptop. It was a good thing she had the best of the best, because this was going to take a lot of processing power.

Shiro nodded and looked at Lance. “Ready.”

“Let’s go,” he answer sternly, and the two of them moved away quietly.

Pidge watched them go, turning back to her laptop while Romelle accepted Shiro’s call, setting the phone on the ground between them where they lay hidden.

“Getting the cameras up is going to be a lot easier than the cell phone thing,” Pidge muttered. Sometimes she did go to the most complicated idea first before even considering easier alternatives.

Romelle hummed in acknowledgement, and Pidge cast her a curious look. She was eyeing the cages that were being shoved into the other truck. After a moment, the blonde muttered, “I hope my brother’s here, but at the same time, I almost hope he’s not. I don’t know.” She frowned. “I was too scared to run after him. I was always too scared.”

Pidge looked up at her. “Well, you’re doing something now. That’s what matters.” She looked at the truck. “Have you seen him yet?”

“No.” She shook her head sadly. “Honestly, I fear the worst.”

Pausing, Pidge frowned. It wasn’t fair that they had to deal with this type of thing because they were Omegas. They were no different from anyone else. It was ridiculous. Righteous ire rose within her, and Pidge found herself saying, “I’ll do what I can to help you find him. I don’t care if I have to scour every nasty dark web website or hack the pentagon again.”

Romelle blinked. “You just met me.”

“Yeah, well, Lance met Keith a couple nights ago, and they’re mates now. I think helping someone in need isn’t as bad as that.” They both paused and ducked down as the truck drove away. “Have you seen Lotor leave yet? Before we got here?” She brought a picture of him up.

“No. He stepped out briefly earlier, but he went back in. The car that they pulled Keith into is over there still.” Romelle frowned. “But if they know the FBI’s coming…” She trailed off.

“Why is he still here?” Pidge finished her thought, because that was a _very_ good question. She frowned, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. She didn’t actually need them, but she used them for focusing.

She wasn’t having much luck yet getting the other phones up, but she did still have a lock on Lance’s phone. She looked at its location, comparing it to the map.

Finally, she got access to the cameras and started going through the ones on the different floors around where the dot was. She frowned, since all the spaces were empty hallways with no phone in sight.

Then she got to the basement level, where there was a room that looked like a kitchen. Her breath hitched when she saw blood, glass, and some other kinds of liquids on the floor. Not to mention a giant silver door that she was betting was a walk-in fridge.

“Pidge, Romelle,” Shiro’s voice came from his phone. “We got inside, but we have to lay low for a few minutes. Cameras up yet?”

“Pidge has something,” Romelle answered quietly.

“Give me a minute guys. Hold tight.” Pidge picked up her own phone, biting her lip briefly. It was risky, but she had to check. That fridge was chained shut, and given the mess of the room, she didn’t like the conclusion she was coming to. She dialled Lance’s number and waited with baited breath.

One ring. Two rings. The bad thing about security cameras was that they didn’t pick up sound, so she couldn’t tell if there was ringing in that room or not. Not to mention, she bet Keith turned the sound and vibrate off.

Four rings, and then there was a click. There was a rasping sound and then, “Pidge?” It came out with a slight stutter, like he was shaking. Right, her name would have come up on the phone.

Her heart leapt into her throat. “Keith! Oh my god, Keith. Are you okay?” She slapped Romelle’s arm. “Tell Shiro I have Keith on my phone.”

Romelle fumbled with hers for a moment before repeating what Pidge said.

She had no time to focus on that though, because Keith was talking rapidly. “Pidge. Pidge, it’s not Lotor! It’s not him.”

“What? What do you mean it’s not Lotor? Keith, where are you?”

“The trafficking ring,” Keith said, and if she wasn’t mistaken, his teeth sounded like they were chattering. “Lotor’s not running it. He had no idea about it. It’s his mother.”

Pidge processed that for a moment. She already knew that Lotor’s mother was an Omega from Shiro (not that it was hard to figure out, since ‘mother’ was a term used for a person who carried a pup, or adopted and chose to go by that term, no matter their gender or dynamic). That meant that an Omega woman had been running an Omega trafficking ring.

That was more than mind boggling.

She shook her head. “Okay. I hear you. Where are you? We’re here, Keith. We’re outside the mansion, and I’m looking at the cameras. We can get you. Just tell me where you are.”

There was a pause and then, “Her name’s Honerva. Watch for her. She has grey hair. Dark skin. Probably a bloody face. I messed it up real bad when I got away.”

“Look,” Romelle hissed suddenly, pointing towards the mansion. Pidge looked up, watching a woman that absolutely did not fit the description of Honerva came out the door, hauling an unconscious Lotor into a car. Well, at least he was out of the picture for now.

“Someone just brought Lotor to a car,” Pidge said. “They’re leaving now. Where are you?”

“Lotor didn’t know she was doing it til I told him,” Keith babbled. “I think he believed me. He was going to take me with him, but she attacked him because she doesn’t want me to with him. She’s crazy. They both are.”

“Keith!” Pidge snapped, a little louder than she should have. “Stop talking and _listen_ to me. Lance and Shiro are already in the basement of the mansion. I have access to the cameras. Where are you?” She stressed each word slowly. He was clearly hysterical, and a bit out of it.

“Lance?” he muttered in a suddenly tiny voice. “I—I’m in a walk-in fridge in the basement. Some people almost caught me and I fought them. I can’t get out.”

“It’s okay. I have eyes on the fridge. I’m going to send them your way, okay? Just hold on. The FBI is on their way too.”

Maybe Keith nodded, she didn’t know, but her words prompted a new thought from him. “Someone named Haxus is a spy in the FBI. I heard them talking.”

Pidge recognized that name of one of the agents that hadn’t really spoken to them. “Alright.” She put him on speaker phone and went to text Matt that information while keeping him on the line. “I’m going to stay on the phone with you until they get there, okay?”

“Phone’s going to die soon,” Keith admitted. He paused and added, “It’s really cold.”

She cursed. “If it dies, don’t panic. I’m watching the fridge from the camera. Lance and Shiro are on their way. We’re here now.” God, she was shit at comforting people usually, so she hoped that she was doing an okay job now.

“Thank you, Pidge,” he replied almost tiredly. She did _not_ what to know what he had gone through here. Not at all. In fact, she wanted to go back to the night they were at the casino, laughing and playing games. Or even the night before, watching movies, but she would have insisted Keith come watch with them, instead of gossiping about him. “I’m sorry. For everything.”

She choked a bit at his words. “Me too, Keith. Me too.” Leaning towards her computer a bit more, she said, “I’m here, I’m just going to be relaying where to go to Shiro and Lance, okay?”

“Okay.”

Pidge went her lips, grabbing Romelle’s phone again. “Alright. Let’s get him out of there.”

…

Once they were sure that no other people were walking by them, Lance and Shiro very carefully and quietly crept forward, managing to get into the basement without getting caught.

Lance’s breath left him. This place was _huge_ , with hallways that seemed to go in every direction. They could get lost trying to find Keith in here. The only upside was that Pidge had managed to contact him.

It really made the Alpha wish that he was the one on the call with Pidge and Romelle, not Shiro. He wanted to run, but knew that he needed to stick close, or he’d probably get caught.

Shiro suddenly stopped, causing Lance to walk right into his back. He accidentally let out a light growl, wondering why the man was stopping, but a quick look around his shoulder made Lance’s stomach swoop nauseatingly.

There were still some kennels left here with Omegas in them. The stench of heat was strong in the air, but so was the stench of decay.

He really didn’t want to look into those cages. He _knew_ that Keith wasn’t in any of them, but he’d probably still start crying. It was really screwed up how someone could do this to another living being.

“This one, Pidge?” Shiro muttered. Lance waited with baited breath, keeping a sharp eye out for any movement that Pidge may not catch on the cameras. He almost felt like crying when Shiro nodded his head and walked into the room.

Immediately, alarm rushed through him at the sight of blood on the floor, shattered glass and some other liquids.

“Watch out, we don’t know what any of that stuff is,” Shiro muttered to him.

They made their way to the fridge, and Lance grabbed at the lock that was there, jiggling it uselessly. “It’s sealed shut.” His eyes moved up to the temperature control, an alarmed sound escaping him when he saw how cold it was, immediately going to bring it up more.

Shiro tried to force the door open, but it didn’t budge. “Pidge, do you still have him on the phone? You need to tell him that we’re outside. It died? Okay.” He huffed and glanced at Lance. “Phone died.”

“Use your metal arm,” Lance said suddenly. “Is it strong? Could it break the lock?”

Looking a bit taken back, most likely wondering why he hadn’t thought of that, Shiro nodded and approached the door. “Pidge, this could get loud, so keep scanning the halls around us, okay? And Lance?” He looked over at him. “Whatever happens, keep your cool. Okay. Keith’s going to need it.”

Lance nodded his head and leaned against the door for a second. “Keith, it’s Lance and Shiro. We’re going to get you out, okay? Stay away from the door, just in case.” He wasn’t sure if Keith could hear him, but hoped that he could. Hoped that he was there.

Honestly, if they broke open the door, and he wasn’t there, Lance was probably going to lose it. Actually, Lance was sure that Shiro was going to lose to it. Betas has such mild scent, but everything about his was angry with just a tint of hope.

He had to be here.

Shiro’s metal arm was definitely one of the top-of-the-line robotic ones, made to do almost everything a normal hand could do. It didn’t have the same weaknesses that a human hand did though. He wouldn’t lose his grip on the chain like Lance probably would from yanking on it.

He pulled and tugged at the chains for a moment, before grabbing at the lock itself and _ripping_ it right apart.

Lance grimaced at the sound of the breaking lock, and flinched a second time when it slipped out of Shiro’s hand and clattered onto the floor loudly. The Beta didn’t pay that any mind though, scrambling to get the chain off of the door. The second that there was any kind of space, Lance shot forward to go inside.

His breath floated up in front of him, eyes falling onto shelves of test tubes with a variety of liquids on it. Panic started to rise up in him, since Keith wasn’t right in front of him, but a split second later, he was drawn to a very distinctive smell, head turning quickly to look at the corner.

A bit of a whine came from Lance as he darted forward. The test tubes on the floor crunched under the heels of his shoes as he knelt down in front of Keith, who was huddled as small as he could be in a corner, no doubt trying to keep himself warm.

He wasn’t wearing any shoes, and his skin was pale, bits of condensation and frost on his hair. There was a thick, metal collar around his neck, bruises galore, rope burns around his wrists and ankles, and a massive bandage covering the right side of his face, but Keith was alive and staring at him as if trying to figure out if he was real or not.

Keith grimaced as he tried to move, a bit of a whine escaping him. Lance’s arms wrapped around him, carefully pulling him close. God, he was still so cold, but at the same time, there was the barest tint of an underlying warmth. He inhaled, taking in Keith’s scent. It was so distressed, but at the same time, so relieved. Not to mention it was tinted with something else that made a part of him instantly react. It took him a moment to realize that he was in heat.

On one hand, that had actually probably saved Keith from freezing in there, since his body was radiating an inner heat stronger than it normally would. On the other hand, it didn’t smell right, and Lance knew it shouldn’t have happened yet.

Had someone induced a heat in him? No, surely that wasn’t at all possible. Then again, there were a lot of weird things around them.

Bristling at the thought, a fierce wave of protectiveness took over Lance. He rubbed his hands up and down Keith’s back as he held him. “I got you. You’ll be okay.”

“You came,” Keith muttered, nuzzling as close to him as he could get. Whether it was for comfort, warmth, due to his heat, or some combination of everything, Lance didn’t know. He didn’t particularly care. If his strong, amazing Omega wanted cuddles, he was getting cuddles.

“Of course we did.” Lance was going to cry. He had barely known Keith for more than a day, but he had already become such an important person to him. To have him torn away, and then finding him again, was almost overwhelming. “Idiot, what were you thinking?”

“That I could lead them to the Omegas that were taken,” Keith admitted, his voice strained. “That I could save my sister. I’m sorry. It was stupid. They already left. I’m sorry.”

“No, no, no,” Lance pressed his face into Keith’s neck, hissing a bit as he came into contact with the metal. “God, what did they do to you? You’re freezing.” He shrugged his jacket off, and helped Keith put it on before holding him close again.

“Lance, Keith,” Shiro walked closer to them, his voice. “We need to go. We need to get out of here.”

“Shiro.” Keith reached a hand out over Lance’s shoulder to grab his brother’s flesh hand, though Lance was more than a little pleased that his mate didn’t let go of him. “Shiro, these things, they’re drugs. Drugs that Lotor’s mother made to control Omega. Lotor didn’t know. It was all her.”

“He’s still a creep and a kidnapper,” Lance said angrily. He could _smell_ the other Alpha on Keith, striking something within him in a way that made him want to hunt the asshole down and tear him to piece. Which, wow, he wasn’t that violent. Good to know he could be if he had to.

Instead, he once again nuzzled his mate, determined to get his scent all over him again. Not that Keith was protesting in the least.

“We need to go. Pidge says the hall is still clear, but a few of the cameras have gone offline. They may be shutting them off,” Shiro noted. He moved around the room, collecting some vials and shoving them into the pouch on his belt. That was actually really smart, in case the evidence vanished. Really, they had gotten in there far too easily, so they probably should bail out before that luck vanished.

Lance stood, taking Keith with him. The Omega bit his lip as a deep grunt of pain escaped him, his knees trembling as he stumbled. Lance held him up straight, looking down to realize the problem. “Shit, your feet.” They were probably numb and painful at this point.

“I can walk,” Keith assured him, though the step he tried to take forward wasn’t very encouraging. Not to mention his scent was completely soured with distress and pain.

Lance’s first instinct was to grab his mate and pick him out, carry him right out the door, but he wasn’t sure he’d be able to carry Keith for that long. They were roughly about the same size, but Keith definitely had more muscle on him, and Lance hadn’t exactly been doing much weight training. He could probably pick him up for a minute or so, but not long enough to walk out of there.

That’s something he’d really have to work on.

“Lance, I’m going to give you Pidge. She said a few cameras are down, but I want you to lead us out of here,” Shiro said, taking the headset out of his ear and handing the phone over. Normally, Lance would _never_ share headphones or something like this with someone (not the kind that went in someone’s ears at least), but desperate times called for desperate measures. He took the phone, sliding it into his pocket and putting the headset on.

Keith let out a startled yelp that he was clearly trying to muffle when Shiro lifted him up without a problem. He looked like he wanted to protest, kind of reminding him of a disgruntled cat, but didn’t. Instead, he leaned his head on Shiro’s shoulder and looked in Lance’s direction tiredly.

“Pidge?” he muttered. “We good to go?”

“Yeah, you should be okay,” she replied. “Head out now.”

Lance nodded his head without thinking, but then realized that she probably _had_ seen it on the cameras. It was time to get out of here before something else happened.

…

When he heard Lance’s voice outside of the fridge door, Keith honestly thought that the cold was making him hear things. He knew, in theory, that Shiro and Lance were coming for him, but at the same time, he didn’t really believe it.

A part of him had honestly accepted that he was going to die in that fridge. That he was slowly going to freeze to death. He had felt his toes go numb and had curled up as small as he could to keep his limbs warm. Luckily, it was a fridge, not a freezer (though that didn’t _really_ matter since the temperature had been tangibly turned down). Lotor inducing his heat also turned out to be a blessing in disguise, since it kept him naturally warm anyway.

Then Lance came through the door, and once again, Keith thought he was seeing things. He wasn’t though. It was real. His mate was there. His brother was there.

Keith didn’t like the thought of being carted around like a damsel in distress, but he _hurt_ , and Shiro was so warm. A part of his mind screamed that he’d rather have Lance carrying him, though he knew that wasn’t practical at this time. He really wanted to bury his face in Lance’s neck, to bask in his scent, knowing that he was safe.

A spike of amusement rushed through him. This was what it meant to be a mated Omega, huh? Given all the other alternatives, this wasn’t too bad.

He inhaled Shiro’s subtle soft, sandalwood scent, taking comfort in the fact that his brother would protect him.

God, he wasn’t normally this clingy and simpering, but Keith guessed that if there was anyone he could be like this around, it was his family.

Keith opened his indigo eyes, instantly locking on to Lance’s figure as his Alpha led them through the winding basement. It was truly bizarre how a place like this could exist in a _house_. It was like a true house of horrors.

He probably wasn’t going to be able to watch horror movies any time soon. Well, no, cuddling with Lance while watching them might be nice. Keith couldn’t help but stare at the Alpha with barely hidden adoration. He was completely serious, a protective air around him. With all the shit people that had been in his life, how had he gotten lucky enough to end up with someone like him?

Oh wow, now that he felt the tiniest bit safer, his heat brain was starting to take over a bit. That wasn’t cool at all.

“What is this thing?” Shiro muttered, hand that was resting on Keith’s back shifting a bit to tap at the collar.

“It’s how they control Omegas,” Keith muttered. “They put the drugs in the back and there’s needles. I hate needles. The red one makes heats start. The blue one paralyses you for a bit. I had a bad reaction to one of the things. Dunno which one.”

“Jesus,” Shiro muttered, looking off in the instance before turning his eyes back down to him. “I’m so proud of you, Keith. For getting away. For surviving. Even for getting us here, though I wish you found another way to do it.”

“Sorry.” Keith couldn’t feel entirely bad though. It was nice that his brother wasn’t just yelling at him, wasn’t telling him that everything he had done was wrong.

“Don’t worry, we’re getting out of here,” Shiro assured him as they kept walking. “I won’t let anyone hurt you again. I promise.”

Keith was going to reply to that when Lance suddenly came to a stop, his hand going up to the Bluetooth. “Pidge? What…” He bit his lip and then looked around at them. “All the cameras went down at the same time.”

“They could have just turned them off,” Shiro noted, though from the way his body tensed, it didn’t sound like he believed that. His worry was starting to get to Keith again, but maybe that was a good thing. It made his mind a little less sluggish with heat. “The ramp’s right down that way. Let’s get out of here as quickly as we can.”

“You won’t be doing that.”

Keith’s entire body tensed at the familiar dark voice. He’s only heard it once earlier, but he still remembered it. It was that big guy that had been with Honerva. The one with the eyepatch. What was his name again? Zenneck or something?

Lance took a step back, keeping himself directly in front of Keith’s prone form in Shiro’s arms. The Omega couldn’t see his face, but he could smell the aggression coming off of him.

“Leave the Omega here, and perhaps we can come to an agreement to let you go.” Sendak! That was is. Yeah, Keith didn’t believe him.

Shiro huffed, anger rising up in him dangerous. Keith chirped with surprise when his brother lowered him so that he was standing, pushing him forward gently to hold onto Lance. Straightening his shoulders, Shiro strode forward, getting in front of both him and Lance. “I am taking my brother, and his mate, and we are walking out that door.”

Keith couldn’t remember the last time that he had seen his brother this angry, but it actually startled him a bit. His fingers curled into the back of Lance’s shirt, and the Alpha shifted back a little more, one of his hands reaching back and holding onto his.

The room was thick with tension as Sendak stared at Shiro, before his hand went to the holster on his belt. Shiro didn’t give him the chance to grab the gun that was most likely there, full-on tackling the Alpha.

“Shiro!” Keith yelled out to his brother in alarm.

Lance started rushing forward, pulling Keith along with him. The Omega yelped with alarm, struggling a little bit. “No! We’re not leaving Shiro!” They couldn’t leave his brother. They couldn’t. He had already been hurt so badly once because of Keith. He couldn’t let it happen again.

Keith grimaced when they rounded a corner and got into the sunlight, a slope leading up and out. Lance put his hands on his shoulders and said, “You need to run. Find Pidge.”

“But—“

“I’ll help Shiro! You need to go.” Lance pressed a hand on Keith’s uninjured cheek. “I know it hurts, but you _need_ to run.”

Keith hated this. He hated this so much. He wasn’t weak, but at the same time, he knew he was badly injured, that his heat wasn’t at all helping things. He was just going to be a liability, something for Lance to look after instead of helping Shiro. He didn’t want to run, but he had to trust his mate, his brother. Lance was going to help Shiro, and Shiro was strong. He had to put his own pride aside for once and actually listen.

With a nod of his head, Keith moved to go around Lance, but then froze. He inhaled sharply, and the Alpha spun around to see what he was looking at. Maybe he didn’t see why the woman before them was a threat, but Keith did.

There was nothing particularly intimidating about her physical stature or presence, but something in her eyes instantly had him on edge. Honerva hadn’t even bothered to wash or bandage the gash that Keith had left on her face.

His eyes glanced down at the gun that was in her hand as Lance moved in front of him.

“You’re not taking him anywhere,” Lance snarled at her. “You’ll have to go through me first.”

Honerva met his gaze as she steadily approached, not slowing down. Keith expected her to halt, to taunt them. It’s what Lotor would have done.

She pointed the gun at Lance, and without a word, pulled the trigger.

The scream that escaped Lance as he wheeled around and crumbled from pain would forever be a reoccurring element in Keith’s nightmares.

“Lance!” The yell that escaped him was high and terrified, almost like it was his natural defense mechanism combining with the word itself. He lurched forward towards Lance, but yelped as he was grabbed by the hair and dragged backwards, tossed to the ground roughly. Honerva was surprisingly strong for someone her age.

She pointed the gun at him, pure rage on her face. “You stupid, _stupid_ boy. You don’t know what you’ve done.”

Keith scooted away from her until his back met the concrete wall. “You’re an Omega. Why would you do this?” Slowly, so she wouldn’t notice, he started slipping his knife out of his pocket.

Honera’s lipped tipped up into a smirk. “My husband and Lotor both would have monologue to you in different ways about why they did what they did.” She shook her head. “I won’t.”

In that brief moment, where she took her eyes off of him for barely a split second, Keith used the solid wall to launch himself forward. He slammed into Honerva, causing her to scream. The gun flew from her hand as the two of them started struggling over the knife.

Normally, Keith would be able to overpower her without question, but he was still _so_ tired and weak that she was actually managing to put up a bit of a fight. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye, but didn’t dare take his attention off of the other Omega.

“Move!” It was a deep, vicious sound that _instantly_ had Keith listening. It wasn’t like when Lotor tried to compel him to do something earlier, where he struggled against it. He instinctively trusted this voice, knew it wouldn’t hurt him without fail.

The second that he was out of the way, Lance pulled the trigger of the gun, the bang echoing through the hall. Honerva screeched, grabbing her knee that Lance managed to hit dead on, stopping her from moving.

Keith veered towards Lance, who fell back towards the floor, blood staining his shirt by his right side.

“It’s okay,” Keith said to him even as panic rushed through him. No, it was more than panic. It was borderline hysteria. Lance was hurt. Lance was _bleeding_. His Alpha was hurt badly. “You’re okay. You’ll be okay.” He tugged the jacket off of his shoulders, his hands shaking as he pressed it against Lance’s side. The Alpha groaned and instinctively tried to curl away from it, but Keith didn’t let him. “Gotta keep pressure on the wound. Please? For me.”

“Okay, okay,” Lance replied with a groan as he leaned on Keith. “Pidge says that she’s making sure the FBI knows we need ambulances.” His words were slurring together slightly as he blinked rapidly.

Oh god, Pidge was listening to this over the Bluetooth, wasn’t she?

“Hey, keep your eyes open.” Keith shifted his hands, making sure to keep pressure.

“Hurts,” Lance said. “Fuck, gunshot wounds are a bitch. Problems, ugh, over there could be—could be liver, gallbladder, kidney. Ow, fuck. It hurts.” He groaned, and was clearly trying to hold back his tears, but they still fell anyway.

“I’ve got you,” Keith assured him, wanting to rock him back and forth to soothe him, though that would probably do more damage than anything else, what the hell instincts? Instead, he kept pressure on the wound. “Talk to me. Don’t stop. Okay? Please don’t stop.” Honerva tried to move, screaming in pain again. “Shut up, hold hag!” The gun was far away from her, and so was his knife. Even if she managed to move some, he’d be able to stop her.

“You okay?” Lance asked him, drawing Keith’s attention back. “Lotor—what did—are you hurt?”

“He didn’t rape me,” Keith said, immediately softening. “He was _going_ to, but things happened.” Keith paused. “My face hurts. Everything hurts. I want to—I just…” He made a sound. “I just want to find a corner to curl up in with you, but you’re supposed to be talking right now, not _me_. Tell me what happened.”

So Lance did. He told Keith about realizing he was gone, about Shiro and Allura showing up probably a half an hour or something after he took off. About Pidge figuring out what was going on. About his _mother_ showing up (which, what the hell? They were going to have a conversation about all of this), Shay getting a hold of them while Romelle came after Keith, both of whom happened to be part of the gang that Hunk kind-of joined. Making the plan to find him. Actually going in there and tracking him down. Lance told him everything.

“I’m sorry,” Keith muttered as he finished. “I’m _so_ sorry.”

“it’s okay,” Lance mumbled. “I got to be a badass and show of my sharpshooting skills. Did it impress you?” He then paused and said, “Pidge says that there’s an ambulance just a few minutes out. But yeah, did it impress you?”

Keith choked out a laugh and nodded his head. “Idiot. Yeah, it did.” He soothed one hand over Lance’s face when the Alpha grimaced. “It’ll be fine. I got you. I promise.”

They both tensed as footsteps echoed from the hall behind them, read to fight Sendak if he had to in order to save his mate. He didn’t care if he was injured, in heat, and kind of just wanted to curl up in a corner and hide, Lance needed more immediate help.

Relief washed through him as Shiro stumbled towards them, a mess of blood and bruises. He stared at the scene with wide eyes before going to the still struggling Honerva and forcing the liquid from one of her blue vials down her throat so that she couldn’t move and wouldn’t be a threat to them.

He then came back over to Keith, putting his hands over Lance’s wound. “You did good, Keith. You too Lance. It’s over. Everything’s okay now.” They could hear sirens in the distance, telling them that help was almost there.

Keith kept repeating Shiro’s words over and over again in his head. Everything’s okay now.

So why didn’t it feel like it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> RIP Lance.
> 
> So, S7 was a doozy. Lots of ups and downs to it. Shipping was handled horrendously, but honestly, I saw lots of Klance moments and I think it still does have a chance to be canon but not until like the very last episode. 
> 
> One thing: recently Barlee made a few tweets answering questions honestly, and one person interpreted that as Klance (and Adashi) being endgame until dreamworks said no and now everyone's flipping out. Klance was never mentioned or referenced once. Dreamworks has She-ra coming out with confirmed LGBT+ content (showrunner said so). Please don't spread it around that this happened until we know everything for sure. Also, there are a lot of petitions going around, but given that it takes a year to produce a single episode (they confirmed this) those mean nothing. Show's already done, boys and girls!
> 
> You're all smart from what I've seen. Please keep thinking with your heads and not promote drama where there literally isn't any yet (at least about klance). 
> 
> I got so frustrated that I wanted to update! Yay! And we got our Pidge part here! Chapter count keeps going up, so we'll see where we end with this!
> 
> If you guys wanna talk about anything voltron, or anything else, hit me up here or on tumblr! You guys are great!


	16. Healing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning, towards the beginning of this chapter there's talk of rape, and of forced miscarriages, and some political views I very clearly work in because I can. I'm extremely pro-choice, but if that's not your thing, that's fine.

Everything that happened was a blur. Lance was taken away in an ambulance, and though Keith knew he needed to go, it had also sent him into a bit of a panic (okay, more than a bit. He may have completely lost it just a bit). Of course, the Beta paramedics that had come to take him to the hospital told him that it was normal, that it was okay. He was a newly mated Omega that had gone through a very traumatic situation, whose Alpha had been injured, and he was in heat (however messed up it was). They assured him that his reaction wasn’t anything to be ashamed of or worried about.

They also assured him that the trucks carrying Omegas had been stopped, only because he kept asking and they wanted to calm him down without introducing any other chemicals to his body. They needed to wait until they were at the hospital to see what they could and couldn’t give him.

At some point, Keith was fairly certain that he had seen his mother, probably when they got to the hospital, but by then his mind was lost in a whirlwind of other things, and he was so, so tired that he could barely keep his eyes opened. It was only when a doctor told him that Lance would be okay that he managed to calm down some.

It was a law that, in every American hospital, no matter the size or funding, there _had_ to be a heat ward. A ward where Omegas in heat could go if they were injured. There were special entrances that took the smell off of those going in and out (outside of their natural ones that never left them) away, so the scent of heats wouldn’t trigger anyone outside of the ward, and so the scents outside wouldn’t bother anyone within. It could be a small ward in smaller hospitals, but it still had to be there.

These wards consisted of several private rooms, and the only doctors allowed in were Betas. The only time an Alpha was let in was if their mate was in one, and they had heavy scent blockers on as to not disturb anyone else.

Keith had been in one of these type of wards before, but it was never quite like this. There were so many Omegas rescued that the ward filled up fast, forcing them to line up beds in the halls. It was a good thing that the doctors and nurses there were all professionals, because there were so many different people in so many different stages of their heats.

Some people were at the very beginning or end, and were relatively mellow. Keith’s was wonky due to the drugs, so he had fallen into the worst stages of his pretty quickly, longing and surprising pain overtaking him, and was one of the first to be given his own room for a couple days.

Heats normally lasted a week, but whatever they had done to him really messed him up. The doctors told him that the worst of it had only lasted for two days instead of five. Keith didn’t really remember it. That old tale about Omegas being miserable without their mates during heats was definitely true (there was no way that the discomfort had all come from the drugs).

All the Omegas were rotated around in the ward. When the worst of one heat came to an end, they were moved out into the public area to recuperate for a little while longer. That was where Keith was now.

Thanks to a combination of proper care and his heat, Keith had safely warmed up without losing any toes or limbs to the cold. The doctors had given him stitches on his face at one point, and had made sure that there wasn’t anything else wrong with him. That included the very uncomfortable experience of them going through a rape kit with him. It wasn’t the first time that he had done this, but it was still an unpleasant experience. They hadn’t listened to him when he said that it hadn’t happened, but then again, others probably said the same thing even when it did happen.

Keith’s fingers ran over his stiff neck. The collar had been taken for evidence, though he couldn’t recall for the life of him how it was taken off. It didn’t matter, he was just relieved that it was gone. He supported the ones that were made to _protect_ Omegas from unwanted bites. The ones that they could control themselves, not those abominations. He was honestly glad that he didn’t have to wear anything similar to than anymore.

A hysterical scream drew Keith out of his haze, and he looked towards one of the women there, her stomach slightly distended.

“Get it out of me!” she shrieked, trying to hit a nurse and orderly weakly. “I don’t want this thing. Get it out!” She motioned towards her abdomen.

Keith grimaced at that. There was absolutely no way that they were going to ‘get it out’. Legally, she had no right to demand that the pregnancy be terminated. Instead, a DNA test would be done, and the father would be consulted. On one hand, it’d be a good way to track down the rapists, who would probably face jail time for it, but on the other, that person would still have full say in what happened to the pup, so long as the Omega wasn’t mated to someone else.

If Lotor had gotten Keith pregnant, Lance could have gone at him with a ton of lawsuits, and would have been allowed to let Keith get an abortion, even if it wasn’t his pup. On the other hand, if Keith was unmated and an Alpha got him pregnant, that Alpha had every say in it.

Situations like that made it clear that the laws were about control, not the lives of children like they claimed it was. It was _disgusting_.

Keith had learned that all too well once, and couldn’t stop his mind from going back to his past. Some that was okay, some that he didn’t want to think or talk about ever again.

When Keith was sixteen years old he had a boyfriend who had been sweet and kind, but was into things that he just couldn’t handle. Of course the guy had been upset with him, but that was basically as far as it went.

When he was seventeen years old, his second boyfriend was still a nice guy, but was much more forward in what he wanted. It was what led him to realizing that he was actually attracted to Alphas and not Omegas. At first, Keith had been a bit stunned about that and slightly insulted, because they had been dating for a year, but in the end, he had been supportive. Alpha and Beta relationships weren’t that frowned upon anyway, though Keith had known that his ex’s family personally scoffed at it.

When he was nineteen years old, he thought that he had met a kind Alpha who wanted to be his friend first, then maybe move on to proper courting. He thought that they were just going to hang out. Then that Alpha tried to bond with him against his will, only his collar saving him, and had raped him.

Keith didn’t talk about it, and his family members followed his lead on how to approach the topic. If it came up, he simply implied that someone had tried to hurt him, but he got away, because he did. He didn’t like to think about it for many, many reasons. Years later, after the physical signs had worn away and the nightmares only happened so often, it was the emotional impact that hit him the hardest. 

Back then, he managed to get a hold of a bedside lamp when that Alpha had been otherwise distracted. He managed to slam it onto his head (giving him one hell of a concussion). He managed to get his clothes, including his phone. He didn’t get out, unable to get to the door, but he had barred himself in the bathroom, calling Shiro.

It was only the threat of jail time that had stopped Shiro and Acxa from killing that kept that monster alive. In retrospect though, their mom probably could have helped them hide the evidence.

Of course the police reports only said ‘attempted sexual assault’ or ‘molestation’. Of course they took the Alpha’s word that Keith had been the one to lead him on, to act like a slut and then pull away. There was a reason he was wary of trusting the FBI, even though he knew now that he should have. They weren’t like those cops where he lived.

It was hard, but Keith knew he couldn’t generalize anyone. Especially not when monsters like Honerva and Lotor existed.

It didn’t help Keith’s case any that he had stupidly thought he could trust that Alpha. The man had been so kind, not showing any hint of the monster he really was. It was why Keith had willingly gone to his house to watch a movie and hang out, even though he was in pre-heat at the time. Not that he had _known_ that, he didn’t keep track of it the way he did now. That had started after that.

Even so, he had no plans to stay for long, zero plans of any kind of sex at all, and the Alpha had claimed that it was the only time he was free from work. That should have sent the alarm bells ringing in his mind, but he had been so, so stupidly naive.

The Alpha, Keith refused to refer to him as anything else, didn’t get nearly the charges he should have, and he regretted that so, so much. He’d barely spent any time in prison, and was right back to stalking Keith when he got out, only stopping when he got a hold of another Omega in the same way. They hadn’t gotten away from him like Keith had. That, over anything else, is why he felt guilty for taking the police at their word and not pushing for more prison time. He just wanted to get away from the situation, to run.

Keith was forced into counselling after that, though he really didn’t mind it much. It was a special kind of counselling where there was a psychologist there, but there was also an Omega there to help too. That was something he had admired, since the Beta psychologist had claimed that she needed more help at work, and wanted her Omega mate to be the one there to cut down costs. It was apparently an effective way to cheat the system, allowing this Omega to take psychology courses.

They told Keith that the legal outcome of what happened wasn’t fair or right, but the title ‘rape victim’ would always follow him around – making him small, pathetic, dirty to others. Attempted made it sound like Keith was strong, like he had gotten out of the situation. It was so fucked up, but he recognized it for what it was. Grasping at straws for the smallest silver line they possibly could find.

That was bullshit on a personal level, Keith realized. There may have been some truth to it, but it was a godawful thing. When he confronted the counsellors about this, they agreed with him, but still had to present things the first way before they could do anything else. Some kind of stupid guidelines because of course there were always guidelines in things involving Omegas.

What was healthy was accepting what had happened, not pretending it didn’t. So they worked on that too.

They helped him a bit. He had been a lifeless shell of himself after what happened, shocked and horrified, and completely ashamed of himself. Wondering what he could have done to prevent it, even though it wasn’t his fault (accept _that_ had been a battle all its own). They helped him come out of that _slightly_.

A month after the incident, Keith found himself leaning over a toilet bowl, sick when he had no reason to be. He felt so, so tired, and food either made him want to vomit, or he wanted to eat it in truck-loads. There was no in-between.

Acxa had figured it out first. She had actually stolen some tests from a store for him to use, since pregnancy tests were pretty highly regulated. He had been reluctant, but had taken them anyway.

Keith was nineteen when he found out that he was pregnant.

He pleaded with his twin to keep quiet. To not say anything about it to anyone. If word got out to anyone, he _knew_ it would spread around, and probably get back to the Alpha. Even if he was spending time in jail, he would have more rights over Keith’s own body simply because some dividing cells inside of him happened to have half of his DNA. It was disgusting. In fact, Keith would probably be forced to bond with him after he got out. Others weren’t always exactly keen to take on a mate that had a child already.

Keith was nineteen when he forced himself to have a miscarriage with a dangerous combination of prescription drugs and physical trauma.

Almost luckily for him, everyone assumed that it had been a suicide attempt from the trauma of what happened to him, losing a pup he hadn’t known about (because why would he – as far as anyone knew he had no way to test that) was a tragic side effect.

The only one that had known the truth was Acxa. She had been furious with him for how he had gone about things, but she never told anyone the truth. Not even Shiro had known. A part of Keith had always wondered if his brother would be disappointed with his actions.

The only thing Acxa had judged him for was how risky what he had done was. She never judged him for why, and had kept his secret since then. Of course, that was when she started becoming more protective. Keith understood why, even if no one else did. He didn’t like where it ended up leading, but he knew why it started.

How could he have let her get hurt when she had done so much for him? Without his sister, his life basically would have ended at 19. 

Keith didn’t regret it for an instance. It was how he knew that he would absolutely get rid of anything Lotor put inside of him.

It was what made his heart ache for the screaming Omega as she was sedated. What made these thoughts come back now of all times.

Perhaps it was being selfish given the low population levels, but who was anyone to judge them? Why were _their_ lives so unimportant compared to a cluster of unformed or barely formed cells?  Any politics that said it was wrong were hypocrites, because once those pups were born and taken away from parents not ready to handle them, they didn’t care about them either. They let them get lost in a world of cruelty and carelessness.

Keith had decided back then that he was only _ever_ going to carry a child when he was ready for them. He was _never_ going to be some Alpha’s incubator. The thing was, a part of him did want a family. Most people assumed he didn’t, based on his closed off and sometimes downright hostile attitude, but that was far from the truth. He just wanted to wait until he could at least guarantee any future children a goof life full of love (at least from him).

Then Lance had crashed into his life, or rather, he crashed into Lance’s. At first, Kieth had been so, so scared, more than he would ever admit out loud. Then he had been a bit wary that Lance was putting on a show just like that other Alpha had. Then Keith realized just how lucky he had gotten.

The fact that Lance agreed with Keith, that he would have signed the papers allowing Keith to have an abortion, said a lot about the Alpha. It was a weight off his shoulders too, because it meant he didn’t have to do something potentially dangerous to himself.

As casually as Keith talked about killing himself if he ended up with Lotor, he really, really did want to live. He wanted to go with Lance to Florida. He wanted to see the ocean, to hunt for cryptids with Pidge. He wanted to see Shiro and Allura’s pup.

Someday, he wanted to feel his own pup kicking inside of him, knowing that they would have two loving parents that wouldn’t let them get swept into all the negativity of the world. He just wanted to wait a while longer for that.

He wet his lips, eyes darting to an Omega that started whimpering. He really didn’t want to be there anymore. All of these different, horrible scenarios were starting to get to him. Despite Lotor’s advances, and his slow acceptance that he’d probably end up with the Alpha, Keith had thought he was in a pretty good place before coming to Vegas. His nightmares were basically gone, he felt generally happy, he felt physically strong and healthy, and like he could take on anything that came his way. He had felt good.

He didn’t want to feel bad again. Didn’t want to let that old hopelessness take him again. He knew Lance would help some, because one thing that he had learned was that the best way to stay positive were to surround himself with things that he liked, things that made him happy, and people that could be happy but understanding.

That being said, he definitely wanted out of this heat ward as soon as possible.

Not to mention, people kept _staring_ at him. Apparently, it had somehow gotten around that he had thrown himself into danger, let himself be kidnapped, so that the FBI could find all the other Omegas. No doubt others would scoff at his actions, but the Omegas around him whispered and stared at him like he was some kind of deity. It was really unsettling.

Keith shifted under the soft blankets, careful not to bother the stitches on his face. He just wanted to leave. His heat was basically over, he was just in the late part of the after-stage of it, where he had to wear lining while bleeding from his goddamn uterus because _of course_ that’s how it went.

There was really no reason to keep him there for much longer though. He assumed that they were waiting to get the go-ahead to bring him to Lance, or maybe needed his Alpha’s permission to move him, which was a bit alarming. It had been a few days. He _needed_ to know what was going on.

He heard the doors open at the end of the tall, and some talking, but didn’t pay much mind to it. It was only when the people got closer to him that he caught a very familiar scent.

Opening his eyes, Keith looked up and met his mother’s purple ones. A rush of warmth went through him, and he muttered, “Mom.”

“How are you feeling?” Krolia asked him, reaching out and soothing a hand through his hair. He grimaced a bit, because while the nurses helped him wash it quickly earlier, it had to still feel gross.

“I’m okay,” he replied, shifting so that he was sitting up again. Her eyes flitted over his exposed skin, no doubt taking in the bruises. “Can I leave yet?”

There was a chuckle, and they both looked around as one of the doctors came over to him. He was older, with bright eyes and a pleasant smile. “We wanted to bring you to your Alpha, but hospital policy meant that we had to keep an eye on you for twelve hours to gauge your mental stability. With how busy we are, it was easier to keep you here. Though as of right now, I see no reason why that should be extended.”

Keith’s eyes went wide as hope spiked up in him. “I can go?” He needed to get out of here, away from all this despair before it pulled him back down. Maybe someday he would be strong enough to help people in situations like this, but now wasn’t that time.

He chuckled again. “You can go to your Alpha, yes.” The man paused before saying, “What you did was very brave, young man. You should be proud of yourself.”

That gave the Omega pause, but then he internally preened. It was one thing for family to overlook the fact that he was an Omega but was still able to help others, but an entirely different thing for someone completely unrelated to bring it up.

“Thank you,” he replied, tugging Lance’s zip-up hoodie on. Someone had brought it for Keith since the police had to take Lance’s jacket as evidence. Having the scent there with him had helped the slightest bit during the worst moments of his heat when he felt almost hysterical. Somehow, he managed to keep it clean during those couple bad days of his heat, though to be fair, he kept it close to his face where he could take in the scent.

“It’s alright if I escort him there?” Krolia asked, though from the look on her face, Keith assumed it was just a formality. “Or do we need someone else?”

“Of course you’re fine. Right to his Alpha though.”

She nodded her head, putting her hand on Keith’s shoulder and leading him out of the heat ward. They had to stop to get the heat smells neutralized, but then were on their way again.

They walked quietly for a minute before Keith asked, “Is Acxa okay?”

“Your sister’s strong, she’ll be fine,” Krolia said with a nod. “Ezor’s fine as well.” It wasn’t lost on Keith that she was tense when talking about the Beta. His mom had never liked Acxa’s chosen mate much.

There was another pause as another question came to mind. “Why did you come here?”

Krolia raised an eyebrow at that. “Did you _really_ think I _wasn’t_ going to come the second I knew what Lotor had tried to do? What your _sister_ had done?”

Keith knew that Acxa and their mother weren’t nearly as close as he was to her. His sister had never quite been able to forgive their mother for not being able to take care of them for a while. Yes, Keith had been mad too, but this was different. He had forgiven her eventually. Acxa never had, treating their mother’s home like it was just another foster one. 

He wasn’t being arrogant to say that he _knew_ his mother preferred spending time with him due to that. “I guess not.” Keith narrowed his eyes at her. “You used to work for the FBI?”

Krolia laughed, and looked up at the ceiling. “Things were different back then. It was before the pandemic, before all these new laws. Of course, when I _first_ applied for the job, I was on heavy suppressants and told them that I was a Beta. By the time they figured out that I had lied, I had made myself too valuable for them to get rid of. I didn’t have a mate anyway, so it didn’t really matter.”

That was _absolutely_ something that his mother would do. It was something that Keith felt like he would have done too if he had the opportunity. Not only was he allergic to the suppressants that kept his smell in control, but the type that actually really controlled heats, while good in theory, had been proven to really harm Omegas in the long run. Some people even whispered that it was part of the reason why that bad strain of the flu years ago had been harshest on Omegas. Keith didn’t know if that was true, but he knew for a fact that his mother had struggled through her pregnancy with him and Acxa, and that they had been born early. The suppressants explained that.

“We were tracking a trafficking ring,” she continued. “It was mostly unmated Omegas, so when we did find people, it was always better for me to go in than Kolivan, Thace, or some other big Alpha.”

He shifted, making himself more comfortable. “Makes sense. Too bad they don’t think that way now.”

“That’s true. Omegas populations are at their lowest now, so of course they don’t want to do put any of us at risk.” Krolia rolled her eyes. Bless the fact that his mother was as cynical as he was. “The investigation eventually led me to where your father lived. I got into an accident there, and he found me and took care of me. It was good, because I didn’t want to draw attention towards myself. I fell in love with him.”

Keith’s eyes narrowed. “So you gave it up? Just like that?” How could she do that? She was an Omega and part of the FBI. She might have been able to help change things for others now.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Krolia said, drawing his attention back to her. “And it was very selfish of me in a sense. I can try to explain it away by saying that the trail to the trafficking ring went cold, but I was so sure that there were still some clues there, that there was more to find. The Garrison was there, and both Altea Inc and Daizabaal Industries had connections there. I could say I officially retired from the FBI because they wouldn’t have allowed me to stay and focus on my hunch, that I was keeping an eye on the area for them. That’s all true, but I was also very selfish. I wanted to be with your father. I wanted to be with you and your sister. It wasn’t an easy decision.”

“What do you mean?”

That was a lot to take in, and a part of Keith had to wonder if she ever would have told him any of this if _this_ hadn’t happened to him. If Lotor wouldn’t have targeted him.

She was right, it was selfish of her in a way, but how could Keith call her out on it? If she wouldn’t have been selfish, he wouldn’t have been there. It was all so confusing, and he really didn’t want to focus on that right now. It was going to give him a headache.

There was a lull in conversation as his mother stopped beside a door, looking inside. She sighed and said, “He seems…nice.”

Keith blinked with confusion before looking over her shoulder. His heart leapt when he caught sight of Lance, laying out of a bed, snoring away. Fondness rushed through him, and it must have been visible on his face from the way his mother was looking at him.

“I could have ended up somewhere a whole lot worse.  Least he treats me like a person,” he pointed out. His standards really were kind of low since that was what _really_ mattered to him, but despite that, he had been disappointed time and time again until now.

“I did divine that from yesterday. He was _very_ worried about _you_. Not ‘his Omega’, but you.” Krolia turned her attention back to Keith. “That’s why you’re going back with him, isn’t it?”

“I—it’s not because I don’t want to be with you anymore. Or that I hate being at home.”

Krolia held up her hands. “It’s okay. It’s really okay. It might even be better for you to get away from all of this. Honestly, he was the least of my worries once I got a good look at him. His family seems like a good one too.”

What? How would she know that? “You me—how—did you look them up?” He had just learned that his mother was a former government agent that still had connections in the agency, so was that really that unbelievable?

“I will neither confirm nor deny running background checks on his entire family.” She paused. “Besides, Shiro and Allura did it too.”

“Mother,” Keith groaned, completely exasperated. Why was his family so…extra? It was probably something that he was going to have to get used to though, because if Lance was anything to go by, the in-laws were going to be no different.

Also, hadn’t Pidge done the same thing to him? Yeah, he wasn’t getting away from this kind of drama at all.

That made him think for a moment. He bit his lip and asked, “Is it weird of me to _want_ to do this? I mean, isn’t it just don’t…what I’m supposed to do? Get Alpha. Go with Alpha. You know?”

Krolia looked thoughtful, carefully putting her thoughts together, which he appreciated. He didn’t need her sounding like she was using fortunes from fortune cookies as advice again. “Having a mate, having pups, that doesn’t make you weak. Your sister, your father, you were all the most important things in my life and I would never trade any of you. And I’m so glad to have Shiro in our lives too.  Love isn’t a weakness, it’s a strength. Yes, Omegas should be allowed to choose careers, choose their education, be seen as equals, but there is nothing wrong with meeting someone and choosing to be with them.”

That…was fair. Keith nodded, but there was still something that didn’t quite make sense to him. “We’ve known each other for like, a day.” He really shouldn’t be feeling what he was for Lance at this point, right? It had been a few days, but they had been apart the entire time.

An odd expression passed over his mother’s face, but then she grinned and lowered her voice like she was sharing a deep, dark, secret. “I decided within an hour of being around your father that I wanted to stay with him.”

Okay, no. That definitely didn’t happen. “You’re just saying that.” She shook her head, and he couldn’t help but gape. “Really?” He remembered thinking that his parents love each other more than any other adults he knew, though that may have been his young, biased mind at work. Still, he knew that they had a good relationship, that they were always making one another smile, and always seemed so happy together. “ _Really_?”

She shrugged. “Sometimes you just know. That doesn’t mean you don’t have to work on it, but you know.”

Right, those stories she had told him when he was younger. “Fated mates, soulmates, aren’t real.” Life would be _so much_ easier if they were.

“Maybe not,” she conceded, “but it doesn’t mean you can’t make it real.”

Keith had absolutely no response to that, even though he was desperately trying to come up with one.

Krolia didn’t give him the chance. She smiled and him and nudged him towards the door. “Go. I know you want to. I’m going to go check on your sister.”

“Tell her I’ll come visit later,” Keith said. He would be leaving soon, and he needed to talk to his sister again about everything that had happened. He didn’t want to leave things bad between them.

She smiled. “I will. She’s been asking about you too. It’ll be good to have something to tell her.” She nodded towards Lance. “Go.”

Keith watched her go before taking a deep breath and walking into Lance’s room. He glanced at his reflection in the bathroom’s mirror as he walked by, grimacing a bit. Good god, he looked like a mess, but he wasn’t backing off now to clean himself up more. The second that he caught Lance’s scent, every instinct within his body was prompting him to go to the Alpha.

His eyes swept over Lance’s sleep form. He didn’t have a shirt on, no doubt to make it easier to access his side, where there was a scar, no doubt from whatever surgeries they had to do. That didn’t matter to Keith though. Lance could have faced an explosion and have gotten scarred from it, it wouldn’t have mattered to him.

This was the Alpha who had purposely jumped into hell for him. He’d give him anything that he wanted.

…

Lance was partially awake, finding it easier to doze than just stare at the room around him, or at the television with two channels. Would it hurt for them to pay for a streaming service or something? He didn’t even need to be in there anymore! Well, okay, the doctors said a few more says, but he felt fine.

Pretending to sleep was also a great way of keeping his friends away. He wanted to see them, but at the same time, he also wanted to be left along. He felt beyond agitated and twitchy, like he was about to leap out of his bed at any moment and go on a mini rampage.

Of course, Lance knew why. He knew that Keith, his mate, was in the hospital somewhere. Knew that he was suffering through a very weird heat on his own, and there was nothing that could be done about it. It would be enough to agitate an Alpha under normal circumstances, let alone what they had gone through.

It was almost like he could smell him.

Soft footsteps came into his room, and it occurred to Lance that he _could_ actually smell him. He made a small sound, eyes blinking open as he looked over towards the door, instantly becoming more aware when his eyes landed on Keith.

Relief rushed through him as he took in his mate, something warm stirred with him when he realized that Keith was still wearing one of his hoodies (apparently he had asked Pidge to get it for Keith when he was loopy after his surgery). It wasn’t like how his clothes seemed to dwarf his past girlfriends, it actually seemed to fit Keith pretty good, but it still looked incredibly cute.

God, Keith looked so tired, the stitches on his face making a long line down from just under his eye, his dotted with faded bruises, and the slight smell that came after heats lingered in the air.

He was basically the best thing that Lance had ever seen. “Hey.”

“Hi,” Keith replied almost shyly. He walked forward a little bit, almost hesitantly, but that was fine. He could take as much time as he needed, because he was _here_ and he was okay.

Okay, maybe that wasn’t true. Lance was feeling a bit impatient. He grunted as he shifted slightly, and patted the bed beside him. Keith hesitated for a moment, before carefully sitting beside him. “Don’t hurt yourself more.”

Lance chuckled a bit at that. “You’re one to talk. Thank god you’re okay.”

“Me?” Keith looked positively _scandalized_. “You should see yourself. You look horrible!” He paused, panic immediately appearing on his face. “Wait. No. That’s not what I meant!”

Lance couldn’t stop himself from laughing, which might not have been a good thing, because it made him pull at his aching side. He clutched at it and said, “Ow! Ow! Please don’t make me laugh. Ow!”

“I’m sorry!” Keith’s hesitation was gone as he leaned closer to look at the stitched skin. For now, Lance was going shirtless so that nothing would tug on the stitches, but that was completely fine, given that it allowed Keith to very carefully put his arm hand on Lance’s abdomen. “Is it okay? Did the stitches break?”

“I’m fine.” The laughter vanished from Lance’s voice, replaced by a soft affection that prompted Keith to look up at him again. The Omega flushed at the intense stare. Lance reached forward, running a finger gently beside where Keith’s stitches were. “You look—“

“Bad, I know.” Keith grimaced, bringing his hand back and gently placing it on his own cheek. “Believe me, I heard it enough. They were saying that it was enough to for to give whoever bought me a discount.”

Anger rushed through Lance at his words, at the way he sounded so defeated by that. He growled slightly, but then took a couple deep breaths. “Well, they’re assholes and are completely wrong.” Slowly, he brought his hand, gently moving Keith’s away so he could touch the skin. Lance was ready to pull away if his mate wanted him to though.

When he was finally coherent, the doctors gave up updates on Keith, because he was the Alpha and therefore they _had_ to tell him everything. He knew that, thankfully, they didn’t need to add ‘sexual assault’ onto the list of things that the Omega had gone from. That didn’t mean that he’d be okay to sudden touches, or not having a way to get away.

Keith didn’t flinch at all, eyelashes fluttering slightly. That was good.

“Yeah, they’re so, so wrong,” Lance repeated. “Not that I’d ever try to sell you or anything, but you’re not someone they give discounts for. Besides, this shows how much of a fighter you are. That you faced some messed-up shit head on and came out on top. Look at the other guys.” He paused. “Honestly, you already were hot, but it only adds to it. Wish it didn’t happen but here we are.”

Keith blinked and then chuckled a bit. “Well, I guess whatever kind of scar you get will always remind me that you were an absolute badass that got shot and then still took the hag out by getting her knee.”

Lance flushed a bit at that, but he was proud of himself, honestly. He had absolutely been aiming for there, because he knew it would put her down. Knees were also notoriously hard and painful to fix.

All of the built up agitation that he had been feeling was gone now. It was amazing how just being around his mate made him feel so much better. It was something he had never experienced in his past relationships. Of course, Plaxum and Nyma hadn’t been his _mates_ , this was different.

He couldn’t remember someone looking at him in that way before. That soft way that made his heart hammer and his cheeks burn.

They simply stared at one another, Keith leaning against him slightly, but then of course Lance had to go and ruin the moment by yawning. Well, it did make Keith chuckle, so that was a win, right?

“You look tired too. Maybe you should get back to sleep, I’ll be right here.”

“Nope.” Lance moved so that his arm was draped behind Keith on the pillow. He smiled at him warmly. “You look tired too, and I’ve been waiting to see you. They kept telling me stuff about you, about how the drugs messed up your heat, but it’s not the same. I wanted to see you.”

That was apparently the right thing to say. Keith allowed himself to relax along Lance’s non-injured side, resting his head on Lance’s collarbone, on hand tucked underneath him, the other one resting on his chest.

A purr rumbled in Lance’s chest, his arm holding Keith close, stroking his arm. The Omega responded in kind with a slightly softer purr, as if trying not to jolt him too much.

“By the way,” Keith said, his voice suddenly thick with a sleepiness that he had no doubt been trying to hide, “heats without you _really_ suck, and I’m glad this one got cut short.”

“I’m sorry,” Lance replied, feeling a small pang of guilt over that. He hadn’t known what the plan would be if they had gotten back to Florida before Keith’s heat. There wasn’t time to get birth control that would work. Even on top of that, they were still getting to know one another and jumping into bed probably wasn’t the best way to do that.

Lance wasn’t going to go down that train of thought.

“It’s okay,” Keith said, looking up at him. His cheeks turned pink. “I wasn’t…I mean…we wouldn’t have…you know.”

That was exactly _why_ Lance wasn’t going to go down that train of thought out of sheer respect.  He hoped that Keith caught onto the fact that he wasn’t at all disappointed in that. He must have, because he completely relaxed against him.

They were both silent as their breathing became steady and even. It was nice, and Lance could really get used to this.

Lance reached up, trailing his fingers through Keith’s hair, resulting in Keith purring once again. “You’re tired. You look like you haven’t slept well.”

“I haven’t,” he admitted. He yawned, his entire body shaking from it. “Didn’t feel safe.”

Guilt hit him once again, but he didn’t stop stroking the Omega’s hair. “You feel safe here?”

“Mmmhmm,” Keith grumbled.

Lance couldn’t quite describe the happiness that overcame him from that. It was nice to be trusted, to be wanted. “I feel safe with you too,” he admitted. “I haven’t been sleep either, hospitals suck.” He gently nuzzled his head. “Maybe with you here though, it’ll be better.”

Keith looked up at him, a soft smile on his face. “Are you flirting with me?”

Lance chuckled a bit, rubbing his hand up and down Keith’s back. “A little bit.”

Keith stared for a moment before a smirk spread across his lips. He didn’t even try to show restraint when he whispered, “Well, you were in my thoughts when I was in the heat ward, so you must be doing something right.”

Lance internally screamed at that as his face turned bright red. Forgive father, for he has sinned by picturing that. How could he not when his mate was in his arms saying things like that? He was only a man. A man who’s Omega was clearly amused by his reaction. “Jesus, you’re going to kill me,” Lance replied. “Good god.” He nuzzled the top of Keith’s head to hide his own flushed face. “Hello, 9-1-1? I would like to report a murder and theft. Keith Kogane—“ He paused and wiggled his eyebrows “—Keith _McClain_ , has stolen my heart and killed me. Please sent help.”

Genuine, happy laughter bubbled up from Keith’s lips, his entire body shaking, and Lance couldn’t help but smile. God, he loved this laugh.

“So you still want me to go to Florida with you? Even after what happened?” Keith motioned towards Lance’s side after his laughter died down.

“What?” his eyebrow shot up at that. Why would Keith think he _wouldn’t_ want him to? Then again, he didn't sound  _down_ about it really, just like he was double-checking. 

“I just…I got you into so much trouble, and you got shot, so I just…”

Reaching out and brushing a lock of hair from Keith’s face, Lance stared at him with a serious, stern expression. “I’m not leaving without you. Even if it means ditching my job.”

“No, I don’t want that. I’ll go with you. When they let you leave.” He paused. “I’d like to see the ocean. Meet your family. You can show me how you became a badass sharpshooter.”

“I’d like that,” Lance said with a nod of his head, relaxing against the pillows, prompting Keith to do the same again. “We’ll go on dates, and I’ll sweep you off your feet. I’ve got an extra room in my apartment, so that can be entirely your space for now. You know, so you don’t feel obligated to sleep in the same one as me.” He smirked. “I’ll drop you off at your door after dates and everything. Wait outside it with flowers like a proper gentleman caller.”

Keith chuckled at that, the subtlest bit of pink shading his cheeks. “You big sap.” He didn't at all sound opposed to the idea. Then again, now that Lance thought about it, when would anyone have done anything like that for him? Teenagers might try, and might actually manage to get some sweet moments, but no matter what people said, romance came from effort and a tiny bit of experience too.

“You signed up for this.” He yawned, and Keith yawned in response to that. Lance smiled at him, rubbing his hand up and down his arm. “Let’s get some sleep, yeah? We’ll talk more later.”

Keith nodded, and then looked up at Lance, who stared back at him curiously. He leaned up, pressing a gentle kiss to his lips. It was barely a peck, but it made Lance’s cheeks flush attractively. Keith then smiled and settled down against the Alpha.

For the first time in days, both of them were able to fall asleep easily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I know the first part of this chapter is pretty heavy, but it's something I've moved around this fic several times, because it was important to Keith's character. He went through something extremely traumatic in the past, something that does explain being torn between his passive acceptance that if things wouldn't have turned out this way, he would have been Lotor's mate, and stubborn refusal. It also goes to show that Keith's threats of what he would do to himself weren't just him saying that. 
> 
> I wanted to portray him as a strong survivor whose past can haunt him, absolutely affected him, but does not define him. That's why that part ended up getting pushed so far in the story. It also shows just how shitty Keith's past was (Lance didn't have a good run-in with Nyma either), and you can very easily see why he opened up to someone as good and kind as Lance, despite being wary (Keith was absolutely ready to throw hand at the beginning of day 1). 
> 
> I apologize if that make you uncomfortable or anything.
> 
> I'm fairly confident that this story is going to finish at 18 chapters now. So as with all my other ones, if you have any suggestions or AU ideas that may be cool, send them my way. I'm not quite sure what I want to write next, and since the school year's starting soon, it'll be slower going. So I'd like to get a few ideas!


	17. Of Families...

Keith only slept for about another hour, but it was the comfiest hour of his life. He woke up feeling safe and warm, completely surrounded by Lance’s strong but not overwhelming scent, arms wrapped around him as he rested against the non-injured side of the Alpha’s body, feeling his steady heartbeat from where he had his head on his chest.

He had never actually liked sleeping in a bed with his past partners for too long. Yes, he _had_ spent entire nights with them, but he always woke up feeling hot in a bad way, and almost claustrophobic. Even times he had to share a space with his family members, he made sure to stay as far away from them as he could.

So why, why was he so okay with this? What was it about Lance that made everything so okay? Keith thought it was utter bullshit that Omegas _needed_ an Alpha. Yes, there was absolutely a pull towards them, but that didn’t mean they had to act on it.

Maybe it was because they were bonded. Maybe it was because Keith couldn’t remember the last time he had met someone as intrinsically _good_ as Lance. No, that was a lie, Shiro definitely fit in that category, and Allura too. Though, admittedly, the way he saw them and the way he saw Lance was very different.

Lance slept peacefully, completely relaxed against him, and by sheer instincts alone, that kept Keith calm. He couldn’t remember any nightmares from his nap, which was a really nice turn of events, since he tended to have them when he drifted off during his heat. It was partially why he was so tired after the fact.

Keith shifted a bit, glaring at Lance’s arm that was wrapped around him solidly. Yes, it was comforting, but he really had to go to the washroom and didn’t want to wake up Lance. He slowly managed to shrug it off, and tried to get up quietly, only to stumble and fall to the ground with a thump. “Fuck.”

He waited on the ground, sighing with relief when Lance stayed asleep. He pushed himself back up, heading into the bathroom that was attached to the room.

Once again, he was confronted with his _horrible_ reflection. His hair looked so greasy, and his stitches, no matter what Lance said, looked so ugly.

Keith didn’t like to think that he was vain, but he _knew_ that people found him attractive and a tiny part had taken pride in that in a way. At the same time though, he didn’t care if people thought his hair was too long for a guy, or if they judged his clothes, or anything like that.

He felt gross about himself right now, and that made him feel bad about what Lance probably thought, but wouldn’t actually say.

Getting frustrated, Keith finished his business in the washroom before returning back to the bed, climbing into it again and curling up to Lance, trying to think of how he could make himself feel a little less disgusting while not going far from his mate.

Lost in his thoughts, Keith hadn’t noticed Lance’s breathing change. He only broke out of his thoughts when the Alpha groaned and shifted. He blinked a few times, looking around the room before his gaze fell onto Keith. A sleepy smile crossed his features, making Keith’s heart jump. “Oh, this is a nice way to wake up. Feeling better?” His hand started running up and down Keith’s arm comfortingly.

“I should be asking you that,” Keith replied. He was okay. Lance was the one that was physically injured here, and would probably have to be in the hospital for a few more days.

Lance pouted a bit at him. “You don’t smell happy.”

“I want new clothes and a shower,” Keith replied before he could stop himself. “I feel gross.”

“Oh man, we’re drift compatible,” Lance groaned. “I haven’t been clean in forever. Sponge baths sound awesome, but they really suck.” He looked at Keith with a mischievous grin. “If it was _you_ giving me them though…” 

“I’m going to smother you with your pillow.”

Lance laughed, his eyes lighting up excitedly. “Oh, hey! I just realized something! We’re almost at our one-week anniversary.”

Keith snorted. What kind of loser celebrate _one week_ anniversaries? “No we’re not.” There was no way it had almost been a week.

 “Uh. Yeah.” Lance held up his hands. “Day one, run around Vegas. Day two, kidnap and escape. Day three, four, five – surgery, hospital recovery, heat, all that fun stuff. Today is day six.” He smirked. “Tomorrow you will have been stuck with me for one week!”

The Omega thought about that, realizing that while his heat had lasted only two days, he was there for an entire day afterwards recovering. “Oh.” Wow, it really had been almost a week. That was insane. It felt like it was yesterday, but at the same time, like it had been a lifetime ago. It was _insane_ to think about how much his life, all their lives, had changed in basically 48 hours.

Their stupid mistake that night had honestly been the best thing to ever happen to him. “Hey, thanks.”

“…That’s not how people usually respond to their spouse saying happy anniversary.”

Keith gently smacked his chest, staying far away from his side. “I meant for everything else. I have…everything to thank you for. Keeping me away from Lotor. Allowing me to be clingy and cringy. Getting stuck with me and being cool about it. Going through this whole thing even though you were here a for a vacation. Coming after me. Standing between me and Honerva. Being a complete badass and taking her down even though you were really hurt.” He could hear his voice shaking slightly. “Making me feel like I’m actually a person. Giving me more freedom in a few hours than I’ve had in years. Being amazing. I can keep going.”

Lance’s face turned a brilliant shade of red, which was oddly fascinating. Good god, Keith hoped he’d always be able to make him blush like that. “I—I just…it’s the right thing to do, you know? But not just that! I just…I really like you. Like, I really like you, and I want this to work?”

Keith felt like his throat was constricting, and he swore that his heart decided to just take off, it was beating so quickly. He didn’t really know what to say to that at all.

 “I’m really glad that I’m not attached to a heart monitor right now or anything.” Okay brain. That wasn’t what he _wanted_ to say, but that worked for now.

Concern instantly crossed Lance’s features. “Why? Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself on the way here or something? Do I need to get _you_ a doctor?”

“No Lance, you ridiculous Alpha.” Keith couldn’t stop himself from smiling and staring at him fondly.

It took the man a moment to catch on, but when he did, he flushed again and smiled. “Oh! Yeah, I guess it’s a good thing from me too.” That was true, wasn’t it? Because Keith could feel his heartbeat, and it was just as wild as his own.

Keith’s eyes fluttered slightly as Lance ran his fingers against his sensitive cheek, careful of the stitches.

They laid quietly before Keith asked, “So does that mean you’ll probably be allowed to leave on time to go back?”

“The doctors think so,” Lance replied, looking rather pensive about that. How quickly did this man whip through emotions? Not that Keith could judge. “Allura stopped by and said that she’d help with the tickets if I couldn’t get out on time. It’ll be cutting it close.”

“And what do your parents think of everything that happened.” Lance didn’t answer, his entire body tensing instead. Keith’s eyes went wide and he sat up properly, staring at him. “Please tell me you told your parents.”

“Well, to be fair, the police are holding my phone as evidence.”

“Lance!” Keith groaned. Literally everyone else had a cellphone, and Lance claimed to know the numbers of all his family members by heart. “They don’t even know you’re in the hospital?”

“I borrowed Hunk’s phone and told them mine broke. They weren’t surprised.” Lance stared at him sheepishly.

“So…what? We’re just going to show up and be like ‘haha by the way this is my new mate and I got shot’?” Keith could feel the annoyance and a bit of panic rising up in him. They _couldn’t_ just show up there. He needed a bit of warning ahead of time in case they flipped out. How irresponsible was his mate? If he wasn’t close to his family, that’d be one thing, but Keith _knew_ that they were close.

This was because of _him_ wasn’t it?

“Hey, I’m sorry.” Lance huffed, reaching out and putting his hand on his arm. “I’ll tell them. I will.”

Keith bit his lip. “I get it. It’s embarrassing that you ended up with someone like me. But I just…it’s not fair to just show up without giving them a warning.”

“No, no, no.” Lance shook his head, tugging Keith a bit closer so he could put his arm over his shoulders. “It’s not that. It has nothing to do with _you_. I swear. I’m just nervous. After what happened to my cousin, my Papá’s going to throw a shoe at my face for mating with you while we were both drugged. I swear, it’s not because it’s _you_.” His cheeks turned pink. “I think they’re going to love you.”

Keith flushed a bit, ducking his head to hide his slight smile. Good god, he needed to get a grip on himself. A sweet sentence and a smile should not be enough to instantly quell his anger and turn him into a blushing mess. He was better that than, wasn’t he?

Clearing his throat, Keith said, “Want me to see if I can get a phone somewhere? My mom’s probably around here with hers.” There was a loud grumble, and they both looked at Lance’s stomach. “Uh, or some food?”

Lance’s eyes lit up. “You’d be the best mate ever if you snuck me in some pizza. A big, greasy, cheesy one.” He looked up at the ceiling, clearly fantasizing about the food. Keith was starting to think he should be a little jealous.

“I don’t think that’s healthy after a surgery.” It was probably fine, but Keith didn’t want to do anything that could hurt him. Also, was he _actually_ jealous of pizza? Jesus, he needed to get it together.

“Please?” Lance fluttered his short eyelashes at him. It looked ridiculous, but endearingly so. “All I’ve had is rubbery eggs, and bad soup.”

“I’ll get you a sandwich,” Keith bargained, “and when you get out we can get pizza.”

Lance sighed and leaned back against his pillow dramatically. “Fine. Look at you, being a good mate and worrying about my health. You’re horrible.”

Keith rolled his eyes as he slipped out of the bed. He felt much more awake and energetic now that his heat was over, now that he knew that everyone was okay. “Yeah, yeah. What do you want? And don’t you dare say pizza.”

The Alpha pouted. “I’m not picky. Just not peanut butter. Or anything weird.”

“You’ll have to be more specific. When it comes to meat, I’ll eat pretty much anything.” Keith paused. “Even lizard once.” Why the fuck did he just admit that?

Lance looked like he was about to burst. “ _What_?!”

“It was cooked!” Keith said, waving his hands in the air. “It’s not like I picked it up off of the ground and ate it! Besides, it had it coming.” He remembered that lizard. It sucked.

“You know what, anything without lizard is fine. Oh my god, I’m married to a heathen.”

Keith narrowed his eyes. “I’m going to hunt down an alligator and make it for supper and you’ll never know.” He stretched a bit and headed out the door, chuckling at Lance’s whine behind him.

…

Lance sighed as he slumped down against the bed again. He really didn’t want to have to talk to his family just yet, but he knew Keith was right. So much had happened over the past week, and none of it had to do with fun, happy times in Vegas.

Well, he insisted that his friends go spend their time having fun after all the statements and evidence was collected. Shay and Romelle were supposed to show them around. From what he understood, Romelle’s brother wasn’t found there, and the blonde had mentioned wanting to do _anything_ to get her mind off of it.

He kind of wondered if Matt or Pidge were going to come home with any new tattoos too. If they did, they sucked, because he wanted a vacation tattoo too!

Then again, he also got a gorgeous, fiery Omega for a mate, so really, he won over all. He wasn’t quite sure that his parents would see it that way though. That was part of the reason that he was nervous.

Lance _knew_ his situation was very different from what had happened to his cousin. That situation was more similar to what Lotor had tried to do with Keith. Lance would _never_ hurt his mate. Never force him to have sex with him, to carry a child he didn’t want and wasn’t ready for, to fit a role he didn’t fit into.

He hoped his family would see that too. His tia tended to jump on things like that really quickly with the wrong idea. He should probably avoid telling her the situation until she actually got to meet Keith and saw that he wasn’t under duress or anything.

A part of Lance knew that his Mamá probably wasn’t going to be very happy. He was a bit overprotective of them all. Well, both his parents were, but his Mamá got downright nasty with people that he thought slighted his children. Lance _knew_ that the man was going to assume that Keith took advantage of the situation somehow. Or at least, he was going to be judgemental of him for the first little bit. It would be okay though, they’d get through it.

His brothers and sisters were never going to let him live this down though. Oh god, Veronica was going to tease him _mercilessly._

Not to mention his Papá was going to tear into him for lying and not telling her everything that was happening. Him getting shot was going to make her blow through the roof, no matter how mild-mannered she normally was.

Then again, everyone always joked that, as the baby of the family, he could probably get away with murder. He called bullshit on that, but he guessed he’d see soon.

A knock at the door startled him out of his thoughts. He looked up, face instantly paling a bit when he caught sight of Keith’s mother standing at the entrance, a sandwich, bottle of water, and a phone balanced in her hands.

“Oh! Mrs. Keith’s mom.” He cringed at himself. What was he, five? “Mrs. Kogane. You, uh, can come in?” Oh god, what was Keith’s mother doing here? And without Keith?

Krolia chuckled and shook her head as she approached. “Keith asked me to bring these to you while he went to see Acxa. He mentioned you being hungry and wanting to call your family. You can borrow my phone if you want.”

“Yeah, I—thank you.” Lanced reached out, taking the items from her. Her phone was already unlocked, set to the phone app, which was fair since he wouldn’t want some ruffian that was taking his baby from him to go through his phone either. 

He started putting his Papá’s number in, but froze at that thought. Shame rushed through him, and he said, “I need to apologize.”

“For what?” Krolia asked, raising an eyebrow and looking completely bewildered. He recognized it, having seen the exact same expression on Keith.

That did very little to comfort him.

“Uh, well,” Lance fiddled with the blanket. “For bonding with your son?”

Her face went passive, bright purple eyes taking him in critically. “You regret it.”

“No!” Holy shit, he hadn’t meant for it to come across like that. “No, no. Keith’s amazing. And we _both_ agreed to this. Well, we were both drugged, so there’s that, but it was equal from both sides as it could be? Also, my family’s highly pro Omega rights and, well…” He bit his lip. “I know Keith thanked me, says that I saved him from Lotor, but he still agreed to go to Florida with me, and he’s your son, so I—“

Krolia held up a hand, and Lance instantly stopped talking. He reminded himself that she had been an FBI agent in the past, and had spawned a fighter like Keith. She was not to be taken lightly. “If that’s what he said, that’s good enough for me. I trust my son. He’s strong. So very strong.”

She looked away or a moment in thought, and for what felt like the first time in his life (though he knew it couldn’t be), Lance stayed silent and waited for her to continue.

“I’m not sure what he told you about the past, so I won’t say anything, but I imagine he’ll want to open up to you eventually about some bad things that happened. Be patient. And know that he’ll try to be patient with you too but he…sometimes gets a little angry and says things he doesn’t mean to.” She looked almost amused by that.

Lance couldn’t help but mirror her smile. “That’s fair.”

“Though, since we’re on the topic of Keith...” Her eyes snapped to him again, boaring into his soul. “I have a few questions.”

Oh god. Here it came. “Sure.”

“Tell me, Lance, what do you do for a living?”

The question was so normal, and so out of nowhere, that it actually startled Lance. He blinked up at her several times before it occurred to him that she was just trying to find out more about the person her son had married. Maybe she looked him up and already knew this, but it was nice of her to try and hear it from him too.

“I’m starting a new job at a marine research and rescue institute in Florida. I’m a marine biologist and I specialize in sharks, but I love pretty much everything about the ocean.” God, that sounded _so_ normal. It felt like it wasn’t even his life anymore, even if that hadn’t changed at all.

“You’re the same age as Keith, are you not?” She peered at him curiously as he nodded. “And already a Marine Biologist. That’s impressive!”

Lance flushed at that. “It’s uh, more impressive than it sounds. I have a job, but it’s not like I get to research independently or anything yet. I need to get my Master’s for that. The plan was to do that while I was working, but I don’t make putting it off for a bit.” He was proud of himself for coming in at the top of his graduating class. It was one of the reasons he got the job he had, though without the Phd to go with it yet.

That required money, and though he was going to be earning a good amount, it still made him a bit nervous. There was really no reason to be, he _knew_ Keith wouldn’t want to sit around anywhere or be stuck at home all the time. He’d probably want to work in some capacity too. And even if they had kids someday, the government gave pretty good tax cuts and incentives to parents until their children were 18.

It would be pretty time consuming though.

Krolia broke him out of his thoughts by saying, “Keith doesn’t know how to swim.”

“What, really?” he burst out, unable to stop himself. “Guess I’ll have to teach him. My Papá says that I should have been born with gills.” He flushed when he realized what he had just said. “Uh, sorry.”

She chuckle at his enthusiasm. “Keith always wanted to see the ocean.”

“Yeah?”

“I always thought he was meant for more than a dusty old shack,” Krolia said, staring at the ceiling as if picturing something that only she could see. “More and more laws, rules, and regulations made it impossible for him to do what I did though. Gaining the job I had is impossible now. Even so, where we were, I always thought it was going to…strangle him.” She looked back at Lance. “How odd that the freedom I always tried to give him finally came from a complete stranger that I should hate on principal.”

“You really don’t?” he squeaked out. “I know what you said earlier but…yeah…”

“Oh, we will certainly be having a long talk once Keith is alright,” Krolia assured him sternly. “A _very_ long talk. I don’t plan on removing any important appendages anymore.”

“Anymore?”

“Mothers’ have to be protective over their Omega children, especially these days.” She nodded and smiled as she stood again, apparently pleased with how the conversation went. “I’ll give you some privacy to talk to your family.”

Lance nodded his head, but then a thought came to him. “Krolia?”

“Hmm?” She paused at the door, looking back at him.

“Is it true that Keith ate a lizard once?”

She laughed loudly. “Yes. Yes it is.”

“God, I married a dork,” Lance breathed out, earning yet another amused chuckle as the woman leaved.

Krolia wasn’t so bad. She apparently loved Keith a lot, but she trusted him just as much. Lance had gotten in good with his in-laws as of now, so he supposed it was only fair that he not put Keith at a disadvantage.  

Lance stared down at the phone before hitting the call button, taking a deep breath as he pressed it to his ear. She always kept her phone nearby, just in case someone needed something from her.

It took a few rings, but finally a familiar, albeit slightly distracted, voice said, “Hello?” Right, this wasn’t his phone and she probably had no clue who was calling.

“Hi Papá,” Lance said before she could question who it was that was calling.

“Lance!” Oh god, she sounded so happy. “How are you? Hunk told us what happened to your phone. He sounded _so_ distressed about it, but told me that everything was okay. That boy’s not a very good liar though, so I assume that you completely shattered your phone? Or lost a lot of money?”

Lance couldn’t stop himself from laughing loudly at that. “Yeah, something happened, but it doesn’t have to do with my phone. Well, it does. But uh…don’t blame Hunk. I told him to lie to you.”

There was a long pause and then, “Lance Charles McClain-Díaz.”

“I’m sorry!” he cried out before clearing his voice. “Right, well, first of all, hopefully I’ll be coming home when we planned but, uh, I may have to get a later flight.”

“And why’s that?”

“Well, there’s a story there. A big story. And I think I should save some of it for home because it’s a bit much now. After I get situated atmy apartment.”

“You won’t be stopping by the house before you go back to your apartment?” No matter how long ago her  children moved out, Papá would always refer to the house she lived is as ‘the house’ or ‘home’ to all of them. “There are a bunch of people who missed you, and you will have to tell us all about this trip.”

 “Ah, well, I’m not too sure that’s a good idea,” Lance admitted almost hesitantly. “It’s been a crazy trip. A lot of good and bad things happened.”

There was a long pause before his Papa said, “What kind of things?”

“Things that involve the FBI?”

He could actually picture his Papá in his mind. She was a female Alpha, but rather short and unassuming. Most people thought that his Mamá was the Alpha, but they’d be absolutely wrong. He could also picture the way she would have sat down to brace herself. “Talk.”

“So, I made a new friend,” Lance explained, sitting on the bed and playing with the sheets. “Well, he’s an Omega and this absolute creep was going to force him to bond with him. Anyway, the Omega was pretty awesome so we let him hang out with us, but the creepy Alpha stalked him and literally tried to drag him away. Pidge got pissed and hacked the guy. I can’t say much about what really happened beyond that, but Pidge discovered an Omega Trafficking ring and got the FBI involved.”

There was a long, long pause before the woman on the other end of the phone let out a huff. “…Of course this happened with you. Not your brothers or sister.”

“Well you know, I go hard or go home, right?” Lance said with a forced laugh.

“Is he okay?” his Papá asked. “Your Omega friend.”

“Ah, well, uh, that Alpha took his sister and lured him to a place to try and kidnap him? And Keith – that’s his name – decided to purposely play into the trap in order to lead the FBI to all the other Omegas that were taken in Vegas. He did it too! They got everyone who wasn’t sold already. Um, well, Shiro – that’s Keith’s brother – Pidge, and I went after Keith to save him? And another girl named Romelle who saw the kidnapping went with us?”

“You went after him?”

“I couldn’t leave him there! That asshole was going to rape him. He didn’t though. Keith fought back and sort of got away. We found him in a walk-in fridge. Then it turned out it wasn’t the crazy Alpha that was running things but his crazy Omega mother. And she tried to get Keith back probably beause he knew too much and then I got shot and then we managed to save all the Omegas and it was a good time.”

There was a really long pase.

“Papá?”

“Are you in the hospital?” Oh no. There was a growl to her voice. She was pissed.

“Uh, yeah,” Lance admitted with a grimace. “Had to do a bit of reparative surgery. I’m fine though! Promise! Just a few more days to recover before I get to go.”

“You got shot, and didn’t tell me? And had Hunk lie? Over an Omega?”

He bristled. “Keith’s not just _an Omega_.”

There was another pause. “What does that mean?”

Lanced huffed out. “Well, the first night, when that Alpha stalked Keith to where we were hanging out, he drugged Keith’s drink and we didn’t know. So both of us drank it. And uh—we kind of—sort of…you know…”

“Oh Lance,” she said. He could actually see her pinching the bridge of her nose. “You _didn’t_.”

“Look, crazy dude spiked his drink, and we didn’t know, and I drank half and he drank half, so we were drugged and slightly drunk and already flirting with one another, but apparently as long as I seemed mostly sober, no one cared about that? Which is stupid, but yeah, they’ll still do 100% legal bonding ceremonies?”

“Lance!”

He cringed a bit. She actually sounded angry. He knew part of it was probably out of fear for him, but still “We’ve been spending time together, trying to figure things out, and I think I actually really like him. Like, really like him. And yeah, I told him he could go home if he wanted. It would suck, but I’m not going to _make_ him do anything. He chose to come back with me though, chose to try and work things out. Please don’t blame him for this.”

There was a long pause before his Papá said, “Well, there’s not too much we can do about that now, I suppose.” She still sounded so disappointed. “Firstly, are you okay? Do you need me to come out there?”

“No, no, I’m fine. Well, I’m not, but I will be. No complications. Keith’s coming back with me, so he’ll be on the flight there. Hunk, Pidge, and Matt will be there too. Nothing’s going to happen. You don’t need to waste money.”

“You would never be a waste of money.”

Lance almost teared up at how fiercely she said that. “I—I promise, I’ll be okay. The only thing that’ll hold me back is doctors saying I need to wait longer. Even if I have to go back after the others, Keith’ll be staying with me.”

“Tell me about him.”

A genuine smile passed over Lance’s features as he pictured his mate. He immediately launched into an excited ramble, and okay, maybe he was gushing a little bit, but he couldn’t help it.

This was one thing that he felt like he truly had gotten right.

…

Keith peered into the hospital room, noting that the curtains were pulled shut, and one of the two beds was empty. It made the room dark and a little dreary. That being said, Acxa was still in her bed, reading some kind of novel.

“You’re going to kill your eyes,” he said as he came into the room. His mother said that it’d be a good time to talk to her, and that she wanted to talk to Lance anyway, so he decided to come.

Acxa started, and then looked up at him with surprised eyes. An array of emotions went across her face as he approached and sat down at the chair beside her bed. She reached out, finger tips brushing against his stitches gently. “Oh god.”

“Lotor did that,” Keith said, though he wasn’t quite sure why. Seeing his sister wince and pull her hand away didn’t give him any kind of satisfaction. In fact, seeing her in that bed, arm in a cast, her own stitches everywhere, only made him feel guilty. Lotor had been trying to get to him when he did this to her.

As if knowing what he was thinking, she said, “You shouldn’t have come for me. You should have—”

“Stop.” He shook his head. “I know that you knew I was going to come for you. Even if I was mad at you.” They had been together all their lives, and knew each other in a way that no one else did. Keith wasn’t the type to leave someone behind that had helped them even if he barely knew them, let alone his own twin.

“I had hoped you wouldn’t,” she admitted. “I never wanted you to end up in that situation.”

He couldn’t stop the bit of ire that rose within him. “You can’t protect me from everything.”

Acxa scoffed, folding the page of her book before setting it down at her side and staring at him. “Apparently I can’t protect you from _anything_. No matter how much I try, it just doesn’t matter. I just make things worse. I’m so, so sorry. You’re always the one saving me in the end.”

Keith bit his lip in thought, trying to get a hold of what it was to say. He sucked at this kind of thing, this sheer, emotional confrontation. He was going to try though. Hopefully it wouldn’t end up with yelling. “What you did isn’t okay. Not at all.” He hesitated. “But you’re my sister. And I know that doesn’t mean I _owe_ you anything. I don’t. But it does mean I know you.” He shook his head. “And I know you meant well, you just did it in a really shitty way. And I know Lotor drew you in. That wasn’t your fault. He fooled a lot of people.”

She chuckled bitterly at that. “But you took him down.”

“Well, more like his mom,” Keith corrected. He knew that the FBI had gotten Lotor. He distinctly remembered that from when he was lost in his heat, since a part of him had been afraid of the Alpha breaking into the heat ward and taking him away again. The doctors had assured him that he had been arrested.

Acxa made a disbelieving sound. “I can’t believe it was Honerva all along. She was always really smart, but she was so soft spoken. I never thought…”

“Why would anyone suspect an Omega?” he asked her.

“Maybe they should more.” She looked at him pointedly. “Mom was an FBI agent apparently. You’ve always saved me far more than I saved you. Allura can run her company just fine and takes no one’s shit. I heard that the one that gave the FBI the proof they needed was a young Omega. Maybe they should stop underestimating you, because you go into heat once every three months.”

Keith couldn’t help but smile at her. “Well, yeah. That’s true. But you know, saving each other isn’t a competition or anything.” He rolled his eyes. “What you did is shitty, and I’m still mad about it, but I forgive you too.”

The smile that spread across Acxa’s face was worth the forgiveness. It would take a while for him to completely trust her again, but that was fine. He _knew_ that his sister’s intentions weren’t malicious. They were just a little stupid, selfish, and misguided. If he wasn’t willing to forgive, what kind of person did that make him.

“Thank you,” she muttered as she grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly before letting go.

Keith nodded, his eyes drifting towards the empty bed. “Where’s Ezor?”

The look on Acxa’s face surprised him. He had never seen her look so annoyed and exhausted when it came to her mate. “She went outside for a while. She’s not…uh…happy about this whole situation. Losing her job was bad enough, but ending up in the hospital? It’s been rough. Zethrid came by earlier and they went for a walk.”

There was something about her voice that put him on edge. “Are you okay?” He had heard of mates splitting up, even if they were actually still mated for life. It was a complicated thing. Not that he was assuming that was what happened.

“As okay as I can be for now. Is your…mate okay? I heard he got hurt.”

Catching onto the fact that she was trying to change the topic, he said, “He got shot standing between me and Honerva. Then when he was bleeding out, he shot Honerva. In the knee. Most people aim for the body not limbs cause it’s easier to hit but he got it.” He paused and thought for a moment. “I’m going back with him when he’s out.” He wasn’t sure if she knew that or not.

“I know,” Acxa confirmed with a nod of her head. “Honestly, it’ll probably be the best thing for you. To get away from all this. And he seems…nice. I talked to him at the hospital when you were visiting Shiro.”

“He told me.” He paused, a thought gnawing at his mind, something that he wasn’t sure about himself. His sister knew, so she was his best bet for help. “Hey, Acxa? I’ve been thinking about what happened…you know…a few years ago. Being around a lot of other Omegas that ended up with pups they don’t want keeps bringing it back.”

Her eyes went wide, and then narrowed, a wave of protectiveness coming from her as she grabbed his hand against. “Are you okay?”

“Lance doesn’t make me nervous,” Keith said. “I feel safe around him. And we had a nap earlier and I was actually able to sleep, but when I was in heat I had nightmares. I guess that’s a good sign, right?”

“Well, it’s certainly not a bad one.” She stared at him seriously. “Look, your gut reaction tends to either end up being really good, or really, really bad. There’s never really been much in between. I don’t get the impression that he’s a bad guy.”

Well, given that Acxa and Shiro had both been suspicious of that Alpha years ago, and he should have listened to them. Nope. No. He was _not_ going to get lost in that again.

“Do you think I should tell him? About what I did back then?”

Acxa’s eyes narrowed slightly. “If you want to. But you don’t have to.”

“Would you want to know if Ezor did it?” He paused. “I mean, if she could, you know, have kids?”

Pursing her lips slightly, Acxa said, “I think that it’s not something you NEED to talk about. You can let it stay buried in the past. You and I are the _only_ ones that know.” She paused. “I mean, the doctors _will_ tell him eventually, because your medical records say you had a miscarriage, and if you’re pregnant again, that’s something they’d want to keep an eye on. Not that you’d have to tell him what actually happened.”

Huh, that was true, wasn’t it? “I might. Someday. Not now. I just…I think maybe if I’m open about what happened, I’ll finally really be able to let it go. Does that make sense?”

“Again, if it’s what you want, it does make sense.” She paused. “And you know, if something goes wrong in the future, if you need anything, you need to call me, okay? I’ll haul ass to the other side of the country in a heartbeat.”

Pulled out of his darker musings, Keith couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, yeah. That goes for you too. And I’ll definitely be back to see Shiro and Allura’s baby.” He paused, his eyes going wide when he realized what he said, “Wait, shit!”

Acxa’s eyes went wide and she sat up a little straighter. “Allura’s pregnant?”

“Pretend you didn’t hear that!” he demanded.

“Oh my god.” Acxa paused. “That explain some things.” Her eyes narrowed. “And of _course_ you’ll be back! And don’t think for a second that we won’t be going out there to visit you when you decide to spawn.”

“I can feel the love, really,” he replied sarcastically

Acxa rolled her eyes at him. “Leave me be. I’m injured. But also, come and give me a hug.”

Keith made a point of sighing dramatically before hugging his sister carefully, not wanting to hurt her since he didn’t know what else was wrong. This was going to be the farthest that they had ever been away from each other, and it was going to be for a long time.

It truly was what Keith wanted, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to miss his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if I have anything to really say about this one. It is what it is. We've got one chapter left after this! After that, who knows? 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who left a comment, kudos, or just stopped by to read! You're all amazing!


	18. ...And Futures

Lance looked up at the building before him, sunglasses covering his eyes as he took it in. Behind him, Keith finished giving the taxi driver his money, approaching with a couples bags in tow. He reached back, taking a couple from him. “I didn’t get to look at this place the last time we were here. Well, I didn’t bother. Not the outside.” He grinned at his mate, tilting his head so he could peer at him over the top of his sunglasses. “I can’t believe we’re actually staying in the Olkarion for our last night in Vegas!”

Keith chuckled, genuine amusement shining in his eyes as they two walked into the hotel. Lance’s side ached a little bit, but it was more the stitches than anything else. “It’s not the honeymoon suite or anything, but Allura thought it might be nice to have everyone stay together, and we said good things about this place soo…” He shrugged.

“Bless her,” Lance sighed happily, shifting the bag of clothes in his hand. It had been fun going shopping for new clothes and seeing a few more sights, but he was honestly tired now. He was supposed to be taking things easy anyway. “I love having a rich in-law.”

Keith snorted as they got inside, the air conditioning instantly relieving the searing Vegas heat.  Lance took in the lobby, not really having paid attention to it all that much the first time they had been there. There were a couple more important things happening at the time.

“To think,” he said, “the last time we were in here, we knew pretty much nothing about one another, we were newly married and mated, we had no idea what happened the night before or where anyone was, and there was a an active trafficking ring!”

Chuckling, Keith shook his head. “It’s been a really busy week.” He narrowed his eyes at him. “And I’m pretty sure we still count as newly married and mated.”

“Well, yeah, but not as much!” Lance felt like he had known Keith for a long time. He glanced towards the reception desk, eyes going wide. “Hey, look! It’s even the same person that was working that day!”

The employee in question heard him, glancing towards him. Her eyes went wide as she straightened up. “Oh! I remember you two! The drunk ones with the cute vows!” Her eyes lingered on Keith’s stitches that he would have to get out in Florida, before looking back at Lance.

Keith groaned and Lance chuckled. “Look Baby, we have a reputation.” The Omega’s glare simply made him laugh more.

“Oh! I think the recording of your ceremony is still here,” she said, snapping her fingers. “We only send them out every other week. What’s your last name again?”

“McClain,” Lance answered, and she nodded her head, turning around and going through a filing cabinet. Apparently this place did a lot of weddings, because there were a lot of envelopes.

She turned eventually, handing it over to him. “I hope you have a good stay!”

“Thanks!” Lance waved at her as they headed to the elevator. Lance hit the button, and luckily it was on the ground floor, so they didn’t have to wait. He waved his arm forward. “After you.”

Keith rolled his eyes, but Lance caught the little smile on his face. He walked in after him, pressing the button to the right floor. “So, do you want to watch it?”

“That _is_ the only part of that night that I have _no_ memories of,” Keith said, and then made a face. “Well, everything after that until we woke up.”

Lance understood what he meant, suffering through the same thing. He didn’t remember their bonding ceremony, he didn’t remember how they won the honeymoon suite, and he didn’t remember having sex or leaving a bondmark on his mate. He knew that he did, but the memories weren’t there.

He had come to a conclusion about that actually. “I’ve been thinking about that. Most drunk sex is bad anyway, so maybe it’s a blessing?” The elevator door pinged as he opened, and the two walked out. “Like, in the future, if we end up doing that again, we can just pretend that’s the first time? Not that we have to. Ever. You know. Just saying.”

“Chill,” Keith said, putting a hand on his arm. “That is a good idea for future us to deal with.” He looked at the different door numbers. Why did this place have to be so big? “Do you want to watch the video?”

“I think so. She said our vows were sweet, so I wanna see how much I wooed you.” Keith snorted at that as he stopped outside of a room and inserted the keycard.

It wasn’t nearly as big or nice as the honeymoon suite, but it was still bright, cheerful, and clean. Lance sighed in relief as he got onto the bed, sinking into the comfortable pillows. “God, I love this place.”

Keith laughed, putting the bags by their suitcases. They had gotten rid of all the clothes that Lotor had scented, getting new, very similar ones instead. Plus a few new things for Lance as well.

The Alpha knew that Keith’s mother would be sending his stuff to Florida, but he still needed a few things. Lance was pretty sure that his siblings were going to be doting on Keith anyway, it was what they had done whenever anyone knew came into the family, no matter how old they were.

Keith stretched out, and Lance couldn’t help but let his eyes wander over his exposed arms – bless him for wearing a tank top that day. He had such defined arms, and Lance decided that he was going to work on a bit of strength training. He wanted to be able to scoop Keith up as easily as the Omega could him.

“I’m going to check in with my mom and Shiro, okay?” Keith looked over at him, tugging his hair up into a ponytail. He was trying to kill him, wasn’t he?

Lance saluted him and waved his phone around. “Hunk texted and said that they were going to be back in a bit and they’re bringing me greasy pizza unlike _some_ people. We’re going to watch movies in their room.” Hunk, Matt, and Pidge were all sharing one large room that had two beds and a couch in it apparently. That’s what the excited pictures he got earlier said. It was nice having his phone back. “I think they said they asked Shiro and Allura to come?”

“I’ll remind them,” Keith replied, slipping one of the keycards back into his pocket. “You should take a nap before everyone gets back.”

“Yes, Dear.”

Keith shuttered. “No. Nope. Not that one.” Lance had been testing out nicknames over the past few says, and had found very little success so far. Loser apparently didn’t like nicknames all that much.

“Fine, Snookums!” Well, if looks could kill, he’d definitely be dead from the one his mate just sent him before hurrying out the door and firmly closing it behind him.

Lance chuckled and looked down at his phone, deciding to relax and take a peek through all of the pictures that were there. He grimaced when he came across some that Keith had taken of inside the Galdara torture mansion (as he had come to call it). Knowing that the police had copied all of these, he deleted them, not wanting them on his phone anymore.

Except, the last one wasn’t a picture at all. It was a video, and the first frame shown was of Keith’s face.

A morbid curiosity hit Lance. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to watch whatever this was, but he still found himself clicking the little play button.

…

Keith knocked on the door to Shiro and Allura’s room, taken back by how quickly the door flew open.

Shiro’s eyes positively lit up at the sight of him. “Keith! Hey Buddy!” He motioned for him to step into the room, and after closing the door, hugged him tightly.

Keith hugged him back. God, he was going to miss Shiro’s hugs. Shrugging that thought off, he looked around the room, which was identical to the one he was sharing with Lance. “Where’s Allura?”

“Shower.” Shiro motioned to the closed door. That made him feel a little stupid, because he could hear the sound of running water, but he chose not to focus on that as his brother kept rambling. “How are you feeling? Is Lance okay?”

“I’m fine. Finally got some new clothes.” He was very thankful for it, having easily parted with everything that Lotor got his hands on. That was the good thing about having plan t-shirts and pants, they were easily replaceable with very little sentimental value. “Lance is still sore and tired, even if he’s trying to act all tough.” It really wasn’t working. “He said that you guys are coming over to Hunk’s room for pizza and movies?”

“Yeah. It sounds like fun, and they’re a good group.” Shiro nodded as he led him over to the side of the bed and sat down, Keith taking the invitation to sit beside him. The Omega felt like Shiro was suddenly trying to gaze into his soul from how intently he was staring. “So. Tomorrow’s the big day, huh?”

Keith pursed his lips slightly and nodded his head, “Yeah.” His stomach twisted a little.

“Nervous?” Shiro asked.

“Like you have no idea,” Keith blurted out. It was true. He actually felt very twitchy, and like he had drunk an entire two-litre carton of milk. “But I think I’m doing the right thing. A new place would be better. And I’ve always wanted to see the ocean.” He still very much wanted to go, but this nervousness wouldn’t leave him.

Shiro smiled at him sadly, placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing. “That’s okay. I think that’s a pretty normal reaction. Have you talked to Krolia about this yet? She’s okay with everything?”

“I’m not a pup, Shiro,” Keith insisted, unable to hide his exasperation. “You _know_ she is. I know she’s been talking to you.” He narrowed his eyes accusingly. Sometimes Keith wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad thing that his brother and mother got along so well. Though Shiro was too old to actually see Krolia as a mother when his passed away and she offered him a home with her, Keith, and Acxa, (even if she was technically his step-mother), Keith knew that his mother still cared about Shiro and vice versa. He was pretty sure that Shiro saw her more as a quirky aunt than anything else. It was good until they ganged up on him (since it was always him and never Acxa).

Shiro held up his hands, light glinting off of the prosthetic one. “I know. I know.” He paused for a moment. “You know, before all of this craziness happened and we were heading to the safe house, I kept trying to figure out how to apologize to you.”

“For what?” he quirked an eyebrow.

“For flipping out at you in the hospital?” Shiro sighed. “I really am. I didn’t mean to. I just…this feels like my fault. I wasn’t there to protect you when you needed it most.”

What the ever living shit?

“Are you _kidding_ me?” Keith was going to _beat_ his brother. “You led the way to get me. You fought off that giant Alpha! Not just that! Who taught me how to fight? Who tried to train me to be calm and focus? Wasn’t school. Not only were you there when I really did need you most, but you did one better and gave me a way to fight on my own.” Wow, he didn’t mean to get so riled up, but come on. Shiro had done everything he could to help, especially since he was supposed to have been taking things easy.

Shiro took a few deep breaths. “Just, don’t be a stranger. Okay? I expect you to facetime at least once a week.”

“My phone got cracked at some point.” He took it out of his pocket to show him. He hadn’t been exactly happy about that when he got it back from Thace, especially since the crack went right over the camera.

Shiro looked at it curiously. “It’s not a big deal. You’ll want a Florida number, so we’ll send you the money for it. Or you know what, I’ll go out and get you one before you leave tomorrow.” The Beta grabbed his laptop, no doubt to research what phones he should get. He was always funny like that. “I’ll make sure to get you one with a good camera. You’ll have to take lots of pictures too.”

“Yes dad,” Keith replied sarcastically. “Worse that mom.” He paused for a moment, thinking about his mother. He frowned and said, “You know, I think I’m going to go talk to her for a minute. I’ll see you later, okay? Tell Allura I stopped by.”

“Sure,” Shiro nodded, and Keith swiftly left the room, going over to his mother’s and knocking.

She was already opening the door before he could even let his hand settle at his side. What was with his family and not letting people knock properly? Did he do that?

His mother looked at him with worry as he stepped into the room.  “Are you feeling okay? Your scent is a bit off.”

“Yeah, I just…” He trailed off, not quite sure what to say. His stomach twisted, and there was a very telling burning behind his eyes. Where had this come from? He blinked his eyes rapidly. It wasn’t like they were saying goodbye or anything. He was leaving the next day, and even then, it wasn’t like he’d never see his mother again. Keith almost wished that he could blame this on heat, but that was over with.

He was genuinely excited to go with Lance. He wanted to see the ocean, and the place Lance would be working. He found himself wanting to meet the family that had raised such an amazing Alpha. He wanted to explore a new place, to leave behind the bad memories. The best part was that he knew he was going with a mate that _respected_ him. He was pretty much living the Omega dream at this point, as sad as that was.

“I just…you know I’m going with Lance tomorrow, and I just…”

Krolia placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled warmly. “When I go home, I’m going to get your stuff back from that monster’s house and mail it to you.” She had mentioned that once before, but somehow, seeing her smile made the knot in his stomach loosen a bit.

“Mom?” Keith felt his breath catch in his throat. “You do really know I’m not leaving _you_ right? I know Acxa’s been distant and has done some shitty things, and Shiro isn’t around as often, but I just…I’m not leaving _you_.”

“Of course you’re not.” Krolia nodded her head, sounding very confident about that. “And don’t worry about Acxa. I think that things will work out with her.” She reached forward, placing a hand on his cheek, careful not to hurt his stitches. “What matters to me is that you’re happy, and I can see how you could find that with Lance, away from all this darkness.” Her lips tilted up to a smile. “Plus I finally get my exercise room.”

Keith laughed at that. She had joked when Shiro moved out that she now had an office to work in (probably on her investigation and observations of the Garrison and the other companies, now that he thought about it). When Acxa left with Ezor more recently, she said that she now had a room to display her knife collection in. She had jokingly started telling Keith that his was going to be her exercise room.

“Keith, I would love for you to stay close to home, I would, but you weren’t meant for that place,” she said after a moment. “You’ve never truly been happy there. Not to mention horrific memories. Yes, you had some good times, I know, but you never wanted to stay. And honestly, the farther you are away from those lunatics and the memories associated with them, the better.”

“You’ll come and visit?”

“Oh, absolutely.” She looked almost insulted that he was asking that. “Who knows, maybe in the future we’ll follow you.”

Keith couldn’t help but snort with amusement. Knowing that his mother was supportive of his decision made him feel a lot better about it.

He knew that he was doing the right thing.

…

Lance looked up as the door opened, kind of hoping that it would be the pizza, but not at all disappointed to see that it was Keith instead. In fact, he needed to talk to Keith about what he found on his phone before everyone else came back and they went over to Hunk’s room.

He couldn’t help but smile as the Omega kicked his shoes off and immediately made his way over to him, climbing up on the bed and flopping beside him without any hesitation.

Keith scooted closer, inhaling deeply as he relaxed against him. Lance’s arms went around him almost instinctively, because it felt so right laying like that.

“I like being little spoon,” Keith blurted out suddenly.

The Alpha couldn’t help but snort at that, running his hand up and down his back. “Well, it _is_ pretty comforting.”

“Hmm,” Keith hummed. “We’ll take turns.”

“An Omega after my own heart,” he joked. At the same time though, it wasn’t really a joke, because Lance loved the thought of someone holding him and cuddling him at times too. He may be just the slightly bit taller than Keith, but the Omega was definitely stronger than him, with broader shoulders. He’d probably be an excellent cuddler if he got the chance.

“Well yeah, that _is_ the point.”

Aw jeez. Yeah, this man was going to kill him eventually.

They laid in peaceful silence for a few moments, but the thought of what he had seen wouldn’t leave Lance alone. At the risk of completely ruining the mood, he slowly said, “Keith?” The Omega hummed in acknowledgement. “There was a video on my phone…”

Keith’s body tensed before he sighed. “I’m sorry—I just—I wanted to say something, in case that’s all that was left, but the battery was dying and there was so much to say and I couldn’t—“

“It’s okay,” Lance said quickly, gently placing a hand under Keith’s chin and applying the slightly bit of pressure. The other man didn’t resist at all, looking up at him. “I just…it still hurts a lot to see. I’m sorry you had to go through that. That I couldn’t do more to help.”

Keith frowned and pushed himself up so that he was sitting, crossing his arms in front of him and glaring down at Lance. “What is it with you Alphas? Shiro said almost the same thing earlier. And okay, he’s a Beta, but you know what I mean.” He gritted his teeth together. “I _chose_ to go after my sister. I knew they were probably going to take me. I knew I could lead someone there. I chose to go there. That was me. Yeah, a part of me regrets going there for personal reasons and that you got hurt but – ugh! Where was I going with this?”

Lance opened his mouth to say something, but Keith held a finger up and he closed it again quickly.

“Stop acting like I didn’t make my own dumb choices,” Keith settled on. “You couldn’t have stopped me.” He paused, eyes suddenly looked at Lance with an odd intensity to them. “And, look, it’s not the first time that someone hurt me. Someone actually did what Lotor _tried_ to do to me.”

It took him a moment to process that thought, and his mind reeled back to when Keith had mentioned an Alpha that _tried_ to hurt him before. He didn’t quite know what to say to that. “Keith…”

Keith held up a hand. “The rule with that one is that we only talk about it when I need to, okay?” The last part sounded like a genuine question, as if he was making sure that it was okay.

Lance nodded his head quickly. “Yeah. Of course.” Jesus, his mate really was a fighter, wasn’t he? Lance had dealt with some shitty people and some pretty big insecurities, but he had never had someone force himself on him.

The worst thing is that some Alphas would think less of their Omegas for that, as if it was their fault. Those people could go skydiving sans parachutes, thanks. As far as Lance was concerned, his Omega was an amazing person for going through so much and still being so good.

Keith hesitated for a moment before saying, “If you treat me as a fragile little thing I’ll give Pidge the video of you snoring with a snot bubble at the hospital.”

Lance couldn’t help but bark out a laugh at that. “Understood.” He sat up, ignoring the twinge from his side. It was fine. “We’ll talk about everything when we’re ready, right? And if I ever do anything you don’t like, _tell_ me. I’ll do the same for you.” He paused. “I’m sorry I…invalidated your choices.”

There was a moment silence, and then Keith nodded his head, a grateful expression passing over his face. His eyes slid down to the phone that was still loosely held in one of Lance’s hands. “The police have a copy of that video. You should delete it.”

“You sure?”

Keith took it from him, deleting the file completely off of Lance’s phone. “I don’t want the reminder. We’re all here, right?”

Warmth welled up within Lance. “You’re right.” He took the phone back, setting it on the bedside table and then slumping back down, opening his arms up to Keith. The Omega shook his head with a smile, and then slumped onto him.

They laid peacefully for a couple moments as Lance tried to think of something to say, perhaps something sweet to absolutely sweet his mate off of his feet, but instead, his stomach gurgled so loudly that it startled even him. His face turned right red.

Keith looked down at his stomach, where his hand had been resting, and stared with wide eyes. “Oh my god, I can _feel_ it. That’s so weird.” He paused in thought. “It’s like a baby flipping out.”

Lance burst into laughter at that. “You did not just compare my growling stomach to a baby kicking!”

“Well, it’s movement inside of you that I can feel!” Keith motioned wildly, purposely not looking up at him.

“Oh my god,” Lance said, affection welling up within him. He very carefully scented Keith, not wanting to hurt him by pressing on the wrong spot on his head. “You’re a dork. And to think I thought you were super cool and badass.”

“I am.” Keith sounded pretty smug, but there was also a slight rumble of a purr coming from him, showing just how relaxed and content he actually was. It was harder for Alphas to purr than Omegas, but Lance could feel the gentle rumbling in his chest, not yet audible, but from the way Keith shifted, he could no doubt feel it too.

The peaceful moment was ruined by the loud knock at the door. “Lance? Keith? We have pizza, drinks, and movies in the other room.”

Surprisingly, Keith was the one up first, opening the door before Lance could properly stand up. The Omega looked up at the other Alpha and said, “Good, I think Lance was going to turn to cannibalism soon, based on his growling stomach.”

Pidge snorted from Hunk’s other side, where she was balancing a bunch of pizzas while Matt worked on getting their room open. “So you’ve experienced The Gurgle, have you?”

“It has a name?”

“Don’t tell him that!” Lance squawked out as he came up to the door, making sure that he had a card to get back into the room. He wanted to _impress_ Keith, not send him running back home.

“To be fair, he should know what he signed up for,” Pidge pointed out without an ounce of hesitation. The traitor.

“Are Shiro and Allura coming?” Hunk asked.

Keith nodded, walking the couple feet to get to the door, and banged on it obnoxiously. “Come on old man! Allura! Pizza!”

Allura opens the door, looking radiant as always and wow Lance hadn’t realized how long her hair was before. Every time he saw her, it was twisted and pinned up into an elegant bun. “Oh good. I was starving. Did you get my special order, Hunk?”

“Yeah.” He looked at the smallest box with disgust. “It’s uh, here.”

“Excellent.”

At Lance’s curious look, Hunk muttered, “Desert pizza that also has normal toppings on it.”

Lance snorted loudly, and Allura fixed him with a look. “You just wait, in a few years’ time, I hope Keith has _you_ running to get the weirdest things imaginable.”

“What did I do to deserve that?” Keith asked, bemused. Good god, no. Lance could _not_ picture that right now, because they were going home tomorrow, and Keith was coming with him, and everything was going to feel so much more real.

Lance needed to purge himself of _that_ image for a few years, thanks.

“You’re a little heathen,” Shiro assured Keith as he came out of the room. At the same time, Matt _finally_ got the door open with a victorious cry.

They all piled inside, Pidge dropping the pizza boxes on the dresser that was there. She turned to look at them. “Alright! So we need _all_ the tea! Like, how are you feeling?” That one was directed at Keith.

“Like I got my face cut open and stuffed into a freezer while in heat,” the Omega deadpanned, causing Matt to snort loudly.

Hunk swooped in out of nowhere, wrapping his arms around Keith and picking him up in a giant bear hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I’m so sorry for what I said! You know, when you heard us talking the night before you disappeared? I’m sorry!”

“It’s okay?” Keith sounded winded, and looked so awkward that Lance had to fight down a laugh.

 “Oh man, that was _terrifying_ when we found out that Lotor took you. That guy is seriously nuts and bad news,” Hunk said, as he sat Keith down. “And his mom. Wow. What a nutball. Never again. Like, you’re he only good thing to come out of this.”

Lance kind of wanted to hug his friend for that, especially with because of the adorably embarrassed look that plastered on Keith’s face.

Allura fixed Hunk with a stern look as she picked at the most disgusting looking pizza Lance had ever seen. “I recall you becoming very fond of a certain young woman.”

“What?” Lance zeroed in on the embarrassed look on Hunk’s face.

“The girl he’s been texting, right?” Pidge prodded with a grin, taking some pizza, a drink, and sitting on the couch beside Allura, Shiro was on the other side of his mate, side-eyeing her food as if it was a toxic hazard.

“He was absolutely _taken_ with Shay,” Matt said as he flopped onto one of the beds.

Hunk’s cheeks darkened as he got his own foot and sat down beside him, leaving the last bed open for Keith and Lance, to which the Alpha would have to thank him for later. Cuddles and movies with friends? Hell yeah. “I was not. I just think she’s very intelligent, insightful, funny, smart, witty, and kind of cute.”

Pidge looked around and met Lance’s gaze. “So he definitely doesn’t like her at all. You know, the exact same way that you don’t at all like Keith.”

“Did you at least get her number?” Lance paused. “Wait, never mind. Pidge said you’ve been texting her.”

“I got her number _just in case_ ,” Hunk protested.

“He actually said to her,” Matt whisper-yelled, laughing as Hunk swatted at him.

“That’s alright, Hunk,” Allura said to him. “When I first told Shiro I liked him, he thanked me.”

“We swore to never speak of that again!” Shiro cried out over the laughter. He narrowed his eyes at Keith, who was laughing like everyone else, and said, “You! No judging! Your first boyfriend was into _graveyards_.”

“What does that even mean?” Lance asked, looking at Keith as he processed that. The glare from his mate made him quickly shovel wonderful, greasy pizza into his mouth.

Luckily, Keith turned his ire to his brother. “Shut up, Shiro! I broke up with him after that, okay? It was weird and I am not talking about this in front of you.”

“You did the do in a graveyard, didn’t you?” Pidge asked, an impish grin across her features.

Shiro coughed. “Grandmother’s grave.”

“What?” Lance started coughing violently.

“Oh my god! I said no and high-tailed it out of there! Can we not?” Keith cried out.

Despite her earlier teasing, Pidge said, “So question, when we get back to Florida can you teach me your kickass ways? For science.”

“Uh…sure?” Keith sent her a bewildered look.

“Good.” She narrowed her eyes a bit at Lance. “I’m coming for you first, McClain.”

At first, Lance was a bit confused, but then realized exactly what she was doing. She was drawing attention away from Keith. He could roll with that. “Listen, the only thing that can take down a McClain is a McClain, and that’s not you.”

“Isn’t McClain legally Keith’s name now?” Allura asked.

Lance eyed the muscles beneath Keith’s shirt and then back to him. Good god, Keith could most definitely kick his ass. That was _stupid_ hot. “Doesn’t count.”

Pidge met Keith’s gaze. “It counts.” He smiled at that.

Laughed coughed a bit and asked, “What movies did you guys get?”

“The rom-com where an Alpha and Omega wake up in a Vegas hotel together and somehow it ends up working out.”

“That sounds—hey!” Lance barked out, but he couldn’t be annoyed, because Keith started laughing. He looked genuinely amused by that. Okay, maybe harmless teasing directed at him was okay if that’s the reaction they got.

The TV in the room was pretty small, but they made do. Pidge, Allura, and Shiro were on the couch that Pidge would be sleep on later, Hunk and Matt on one bed, and Keith and lance on the other.

Lance had basically draped himself over Keith at some point, and was thrilled that the Omega didn’t seem to mind, cuddling him close and playing with his short hair. He fucking loved cuddles.

The movie they actually got was a space exploration adventure. Keith seemed pretty into it, though he was also the first one to nod off, slumping back against the pillows, struggling to stay awake before he finally nodded off. It was at this time that Lance turned his attention from the movie to his mate entirely. God, he really was beautiful, wasn’t he? How did Lance get this lucky? Not to be an asshole, but it would have been easy for him to wake up with someone who was a little less conventionally attractive. Yet, here he was with his ridiculously attractive mate.

Not only that, but Lance was pretty sure he had gotten in the good graces of both Shiro and Allura, if how they treated him said anything. He was pretty sure Krolia liked him too, and his parents were eager to meet Keith. Things were well and truly looking up.

Eventually everyone started getting tired, so they all retreated back to their rooms. Lane was a bit relieved, because laying like that, while normally awesome, actually made his side ache a little bit. He’d just have to get cuddles later when he was entirely healed.

After rousing Keith, they both stumbled back into their room, where Lance made full use of the bathroom for his nightly routine. He had neglected it for over a week now, and that was just unacceptable.

Keith, on the other hand, simply pulled on his pyjama pants, washed his face with water, brushed his teeth, and flopped onto the bed. Shiro was right, he was a heaten.

“Hey,” Keith called out to him. “Wanna watch our video?”

It took Lance a moment to realize what he was talking about, and eagerly nodded his head. “You bet! Set it up while I finish?”

Keith didn’t answer, but Lance heard him moving around. Once he was done, and they were both situated, he used the remote to start the recording.

…

Lance finished the last of his fries they purchased from Arus Fries, embracing the salty flavour as he tossed the packaging into a nearby trash bin. He looked back towards Keith, who was frowning with his brow furrowed.

Worry rushed through him, and he asked, “You sure about this?”

Keith blinked and looked up at him. “Am I sure about mating with you to get away from Lotor and then courting you? You bet!” Was that even a question? This was a much better option than anything else he had. He just really had the feeling that he forgot something somewhere. Whatever, he’d figure it out in the morning.

“That’s very specific,” Lance noted with a nod. “I trust you.” He knew something was wrong, that they had maybe drank too much or they were drugged, but this really seemed like a good idea to him, and Keith knew exactly what they were doing, so hey, that was a good thing, right?

The Olkarion was a huge building that made Lance stare in awe as they walked up to it. In one hand, he had the flyer, and in the other, he held Keith’s. He squeezed it as they walked inside, straight to the reception desk.

The woman that was working seemed to know exactly what they wanted before they even presented the flyer. She eyed Lance, but then handed the papers for them to fill out after checking their IDs. She took the paperwork, handing it off to another person.

Maybe it was a bit odd that no one took a second look at them. There were a few other couples there, but by far, they were the ones cuddling with one another most. Not that Keith was complaining. Lance was so warm and smelled amazing. He could definitely picture waking up to this smell every day in the future. It was such an appealing idea that he became irritated with just how long it was taking for them to get their turn with the officiant.

Lance hummed as Keith nuzzled himself against his neck, far enough back for his nose to brush against his scent gland. He brushed his cheek against Keith in return, suddenly impatient and wanting to get into the room for their bonding ceremony.

There was an older couple not far from them that kind of surprised Lance. Most people found their mates when they were younger, but this man and woman were quite old. Though still mostly focused on Keith, Lance scent the air, and blinked with surprise.

They were both Omega. They were old enough to have lived a life with more freedom than Keith currently could, old enough to be considered ‘undesirable’ and overlooked by everyone else.

The way they held hands and looked at each other told Lance that they loved one another very much. It was sad to know that, if they were young, they probably wouldn’t be allowed to get married.

It was probably why they were doing it now.

Keith looked up at the couple, having come to the same silent conclusion as Lance. The man met his gaze and smiled at him warmly. “You seem to have found yourself a rare good one.” The woman swatted his arm, but the man just laughed.

Keith felt his cheeks burn slightly, but he looked up at Lance and said, “Yeah.” God, he didn’t even know this Alpha, but he could _tell_ he was a good person. This wasn’t like _that_ Alpha. The one that had tricked him and hurt him. This wasn’t like Lotor, where if Keith didn’t know Allura, probably could have lured him in with a false façade of charm. He was just so bluntly and genuinely good.

They waited a little while longer, before finally being ushered inside.

It was a small but incredibly beautiful room with chairs spread out so that, if a couple came with family members to watch their bonding ceremony. Though it wasn’t an option for them, neither one was really bothered about that. Hand-in-hand, they walked down the aisle

Lance figured that they could have some big party or something at home, or do one of those vow renewal things in a year so that their families could actually be there, and they might be able to save up some money from it. Something like that.

Keith figured that if he didn’t do this now, or if he tried to get his family there, they’d try to stop him, and by tomorrow morning, Lotor would get his teeth into him.

That thought made the Omega squeeze the Alpha’s hand. He’d much, much rather be here.

The officiant was a short man with salt-and-pepper hair, and a warm smile on his face. His dark eyes looked from one of them to the other, almost with approval. “Lance Charles McClain, and Keith Akira Kogane?”

“That’s us!” Keith said happily, unable to stop himself from smiling broadly. “We’re getting bonded.”

The officiant laughed merrily. “Yes you are, young man. Will any family be joining you?”

“Nope,” Lance answered. “It’s a surprise.” And lord, was it _ever_ going to be a surprise. He leaned close to Keith. “Right?”

Keith snickered and nodded, looking back at the officiant.

“Excellent,” the man said. “Now, we can do this a few ways. We can simply sign all the paper work, which is instantly registered.” He motioned towards where a certificate was sitting on some type of machine that would not doubt upload their signatures and legal status as soon as they signed it. Technology those days was amazing like that. “Or, if you’d like, I can say a few words, and you can exchange vows.”

“That one!” Lance said instantly, eyes widening excitedly.

The man nodded and flipped through a couple papers, no doubt different things to say to mix it up every once and a while. “There is love in all of us. Some comes sudden, some comes slow. It is complete and utter bliss, but at the same time, it is conflict and rising beyond the struggle. It is forgiving, accepting, embracing another not despite of their faults, but for them. It’s learning and growing together. Here, you have chosen not to wait for others to accept love, but have chosen to make your future your own. You’ve chosen to follow your own hopes and dreams. Love is learning and growing together, even in the face of adversity.” There was a pause as they both took that in. “Do you have any vows you’d like to say?”

Lance squeezed Keith’s hands. “I felt so lost and alone, like everything was muted and monotone, and then you crashed into my life and everything became bright and colourful. You make me smile and laugh more than anyone else has in a long time. That’s why I want to be with you. To learn all I can, so we can grow together as partners. I’m _never_ going to hurt you, to force you to be something you don’t want to be. I’m going to cherish you with everything I’ve got in me, and someday, you’ll be my best friend.”

Keith blinked his eyes rapidly, because for some reason they suddenly felt a little wetter than normal. Damn this Alpha. He bit his lip and said, “I didn’t expect you. At all. I expected someone to just, rip my collar off eventually. But you’re so good. I want to grow with you too. To explore and learn and all that stuff. I want to be with you, and I’m going to work hard to show you just how amazing you are, no matter what comes our way, good or bad.”

“Good or bad,” Lance repeated, feeling torn between laughing and crying because of how blunt but honest Keith’s words were.

The officiant chuckled at them. “Do you have rings?”

“We’re going to pick them out when we go home,” Lance answered quickly, even if that wasn’t necessarily true. It seemed like a good idea though. They didn’t have to be expensive or anything.

“That’s quite alright. Come here and sign these documents.”

Lance squeezed Keith’s hand as they approached the table with the certificate and other papers on it. As soon as they signed that, it would be filed, and they’d be legally bonded. They’d be married. That was insane.

Despite the insanity, Lance didn’t hesitate for a moment as he signed his to the different papers that they needed to sign, including one that would change Keith’s name from Kogane to McClain. That thought sent a thrill through him, especially when Keith didn’t hesitate to sign it after reading it.

The last one was the actual marriage certificate that they’d get to keep the hard copy of.

Keith wasn’t nervous about this part. He didn’t care enough about his last name to protest anything, and it wouldn’t matter anyway. That was just the way the world worked. He just wanted to get these papers signed to make everything official. He hoped that everything would go through smoothly, because he didn’t want anything coming back to bite them in a bad way.

Literally, in his case.

The officiant smiled warmly at them, compiling all of the papers for them. “Bonding is a beautiful, life-long commitment between two mates. With these documents, you are legally bound to one another. However, remember, this is only half the process, to complete a bond, it’s the marks that count.”

“That’s going to be no problem,” Lance muttered before swooping down the inch between them and kissing Keith, who eagerly responded in turn. They leaned away from one another again, and Lance held his arm out to him.

Keith laughed happily, looping his arm through Lance’s as the Alpha led him out of the room and back towards where they needed to pay for everything. It was so surreal. Just like that, they were legally bonded to one another. Now they just had to physically bond.

How was that going to work? Keith remembered Lance saying something about sharing a room with Hunk (and another Alpha walking in on them bonding would be scarring for all of them), and Lotor was probably stalking his room.

Oh god. Keith did _not_ want to do this in a back alley or somewhere sketchy.

“Thank you,” the receptionist said. She pushed a golden box towards them with a hole in the top.

“What’s that?” Lance mumbled. He was exhilarated, but at the same time, so tired. There was still so much left to do. He got the feeling that this had to do with those drugs that Hunk was talking about at some point. Or he thought he had. This all kind of felt like a dream.

“Every couple has the chance to win a weekend in our honeymoon suite. If it’s booked or taken, we don’t offer the draw, but it’s open now.” She nodded towards it. “Give it a shot. There are different coloured balls in here and different prizes to go with them.”

Lance put a hand on Keith’s back between his shoulder blades. “Go on.”

Keith tilted his head slightly before nodding. He reached into the box and routed around for a moment. It wasn’t like he ever won anything like this anyway.

Pulling his hand back, he found himself staring at a golden ball, and looked at the receptionist. “Is that good or bad?”

She stared with surprise before saying, “You won.”

“We won?” Lance repeated.

She laughed. “Well, out of everyone that’s come through here tonight, I feel like you two deserve it most. Yeah, you won the honeymoon suite!”

“Sweet!” Lance replied, and Keith snorted, leaning against him. He was starting to feel a little dizzy again.

It was a quick process of her booking the room and giving them keys. As they wandered towards the elevator, Keith thought he heard her call out to them again, but he was much too focused on Lance right now. His Lance. His mate.

Well, not yet. But he would be.

Lance pressed the button for the floor they were going to, and waited for the elevator door to close before he crowded Keith against the wall, kissing him deeply. Keith’s first reaction was surprise, but he sank into the kiss quickly, returning the warm embrace with vigor.

The trip up seemed to take forever, and Keith was getting very impatient. He was half-ways tempted to just start everything in the elevator, but that would be bad if someone walked in on them.

The ding of the elevator reaching the floor was the only thing that managed to separate them. Lance laughed as he grabbed Keith’s hand, tugging him out the door and down the hall. Keith laughed along with him as they hurriedly followed the room numbers.

Lance stopped in front of a door, and Keith practically jumped on his back, nuzzling his scent gland and nipping slightly at that.

“Don’t do that yet,” Lance growled playfully. “We gotta get inside.” His eyes went wide. “Hey! I wanna carry you over the threshold!”

“The what?” Keith laughed.

“Into the room.”

Oh, he had heard of that before. Keith blinked as the door clicked open, and then said, “Hey, hey! What if _I_ carried _you_?”

Lance looked at Keith, eyes trailing down to his defined warms. Warmth rushed through him. “Holy shit! Can you?”

Keith put one hand on Lance’s back, the other under his knees, and easily swept him off of his feet. Lance’s laugh echoed down the hall as Keith stumbled into the room, nearly tumbling to the floor. Good god, he was absolutely going to fall in love with this silly Omega, wasn’t he?

Lance laughed again as Keith tried to kick the door behind him, missing once, and finally shutting it the second time.

…

The flight from where Keith lived to Vegas was a short one on a small, overcrowded plane where he had been forced to sit in the aisle seat. It hadn’t been a very fun experience. This trip was going to be different though. It would be much farther, the plane would be bigger, and his ticket said that he had a window seat. The best part of the whole thing was that Lance would be beside him the entire time.

Keith was excited to go, but at the same time, as they checked in their luggage and he watched Hunk, Pidge, and Matt go through security, he felt like he was going to throw up. Lance waited with him, texting his sister something or other (apparently, she was going to pick him and Lance up at the airport, which didn’t help his nerves at all).  He didn’t regret his decision, he still wanted to go, but he felt like he was going to cry.

This was a different type of fear that was mingled with anticipation over horror. He could deal with this. It made it hard to eat anything without making his stomach clench painfully, but he managed to keep it together over all.

Lance looked up from him phone and smiled at him a bit, eyes glancing over at his family members. “We need to get going.”

“I know. I know,” Keith said, because he did. They needed to get through security on time, and were pushing it as it was. “I just…you go. I’ll be there. I won’t run off.”

Smiling, Lance nodded and looked at everyone else. “It was nice meeting you all. You know, despite everything else that happened.”

Allura chuckled. “You’ll have to see if you can come and visit once the pup comes. I’m sure they’d like to meet both of their uncles! Or perhaps we can come visit you!” That was thoughtful of her. It wasn’t going to be easy for Lance to get time off, considering he was going to be working at the marine institute and working on getting his PHd in marine biology.

“And if _anything_ happens to Keith,” Krolia butted in before Lance could say anything, “I’ll _know_.” Her eyes narrowed, and Lance’s face paled at her words.

Shiro laughed and clapped a hand on the Alpha’s shoulder with a friendly smile. “I like you, Lance. Don’t mess up.”

“I won’t,” Lance said with a small squeak as he managed to compose himself. He looked at Keith again. “Meet you on the other side?”

“Yeah.” Keith watched his mate head towards security before turning to say something to his family, when he caught sight of movement behind his mother. Surprise rushed through him when he recognized that blue hair. “Acxa?”

They all turned, looking at her with surprise as she approached, balancing on crutches. She wasn’t supposed to be out of the hospital just yet.

“I had to come and say goodbye,” she said, as if they explained everything.

“Did you…break out?”

She ignored that and pressed on. “Be careful out there. Don’t drown or something.”

Keith rolled his eyes and sighed. “Well, you don’t go wandering off in the desert, I won’t be there to find you.”

“That was _one_ time.”

“It was like three times.”

“Shut up and give me a hug.”

Keith laughed as he hugged his twin, trying not to squeeze her too tightly, since she would probably have to go back to the hospital after this anyway.

Allura moved in next, and Keith sometimes forgot just how strong she was until moments like this where she was squeezing the life out of him. “You will come back when the baby’s born, right? I want them to meet their uncle!”

“You bet I will!” Keith assured her as he patted her back. It was something he and Lance talked about already. The Alpha might not be able to get away to come, but Keith could certainly go.

Shiro came forward next, and Keith had to rapidly blink his eyes not to cry as his brother grasped his hand and yanked him into a hug. “Have fun, and never forget, if something happens, we have your back and you’re always welcome here, laws be damned. You’re strong though. You’ll be fine.”

“Don’t get yourself into trouble okay?” Keith managed to choke out.

“I think I’m going to be retiring from the PI business for a bit,” Shiro admitted with a laugh. “Allura’s going to need a house-mate to cook and do the dishes, and change the baby’s diapers while she tries to overthrow the world.”

Keith snorted at that. She probably could if she wanted to. Thank god she and the Holts lived in different states. No one would stand a chance if they united forces.

A lump grew in Keith’s throat as he turned to his mother. They stared at one another, before Keith closed the distance between them, hugging her tightly. There was so much to say, but also nothing to say at the same time.

“I love you,” Krolia said.

Keith smiled up at her and said, “I love you too, Mom.”

It took a few more moments to extract himself from his family, but he really needed to get through security.

He had to wait a little bit in line, but when he finally got to the other side and was working on getting his shoes back on, he could still see his family through through the glass walls. All of them were smiling at him.

Keith grabbed his bags and turned, eyes falling on Lance, who was waiting out of the way for him. He approached the other man, still nervous, but also exhilarated.

Lance intertwined their fingers as they started walking towards the gate where Hunk, Pidge, and Matt were waiting.

Glancing over his shoulder one more time, Keith watched as his family faded from view. A pang of sadness hit him, but he knew it would be okay.

“Hey, Keith?” Lance said, instantly pulling his attention back to him.

“Hmm?” he hummed in response, wondering what had the Alpha looking so serious.

Lance looked over at him with furrowed brows, and said, “On our anniversary, let’s not come back to Vegas.”

Keith laughed loudly, squeezing his hand tightly as they walked to where the others were waiting for them. Then it would be off to a brand new life.

He was still nervous, but at the same time, Keith knew it would be worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Dobby voice* Kaylee is free! 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who came along for the ride! Not sure when or what my next project will be, but we'll see! I still feel like I have the writing bug for Voltron. How fast or slow I go depends on the upcoming school year (when I once again have to be an adult and work). 
> 
> If you have any questions at all about this universe, or others, or want to talk anything about writing or Voltron, hit me up here or over on my tumblr (same name as here).

**Author's Note:**

> And here we go with another ABO fic in an entirely different context and universe from my last one. Again, we're not getting smut here. 
> 
> Some things: there will be some OOC moments for characters, but that makes sense because this is a very different world. I try to keep them close though. Also Acxa and Keith are twins here (I initially started planning this just before S5 aired so yeah). 
> 
> Also, I've decided to start using the tumblr I created a while ago. It's basically just me posting random thoughts for now (though I am probably going to write an in-depth analysis on Lance's character arc just because I'm bitter and want to prove that he has had an arc), but if you have any questions you don't want to ask here, you can ask them there.
> 
>  [Visit My Tumblr](https://storiesbeyondthestars.tumblr.com/)


End file.
